Fallen Soldier
by GeekyChic123
Summary: Based on a shot from the new Captain America comercial. After Captain America and Black Widow finish a mission, a mistake ensures a serious injury in Natasha. Can Cap save her? And if not, how can he tell Clint? Teen for very mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

So I am beyond excited for the Winter Soldier movie, I have watched the commercial a hundred times already! And I am so intrigued by two parts- One when you see Steve carrying an unconscious Black Widow in what looks like a bombing site. And two when you see Steve and Black Widow standing in front of a hospital room where it looks like someone is having surgery! So I know it looks like Nick Fury is the one in the room, but I had a thought. What if it is Natasha in the room, and she is dying, but before she dies, Steve sees her next to him? This story would not get out of my head, and can be enjoyed even if you have never seen the commercial. I hope you like it! I hope because they are Avengers the story is ok in this category... Oh and if you don't know comic knowledge, the Winter Soldier is Bucky, Caps friend in the first movie. I am pretty sure he is in the second movie :):))

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It had all happened so fast. One minute they were standing there, they thought the fight was over. That they had won. Natasha wiped a splattering of blood from her face, she was obviously out of breath. They had fought hard against the Winter Soldier, they had won.

"Are we done?" Natasha asked him cautiously, her body still tense in the aftermath of the fight. Steve looked at the bodies of soldiers around him, the corpse of Bucky. The person who had once been his friend.

"I think so. We did it." He smiled at her cautiously, she didn't smile back. She wasn't the smiling type. "Good job Captain, I guess were done here." They began walking out of the room, Steve just wanted to eat anything he could, and then sleep for a few days. He had never been so tired in his life- well, not counting New York of course. Suddenly Natasha turned around, her head cocked slightly.

"What?" Steve asked, hand tightening instinctively back around his shield. "I don't know," she muttered. "Do you hear that?" As she said this, he became aware of a very quiet sound. Something was beeping. "Wait, I do hear something. What do you think it-" Turning his head Steve felt his insides go cold when he saw Bucky. He was still alive, and in his hand was a remote. Or a detonator.

Bucky didn't say a word, just grinned like a giddy fool as his finger pressed down on the button.

BOOM

Steve flew back across the room, there was nothing now but noise, and force, and terror. As he was flying across the room he unexplainably thought about Peggy. Then his head cracked against a wall.

Everything was foggy when he woke up, he was covered in dust and had to flick a burning clump of something off his arm. He checked himself over, no obvious injuries other than the dull throbbing at the base of his skull. Nothing life threatening, good. He stood up, and looked around. It was complete carnage. Any soldiers that they might have left alive, were without a doubt dead now. Or else wishing they were. Many were crushed by pieces of the ceiling, half a dozen were ablaze. He averted his eyes from the bloody mass that had once been Bucky, but now wasn't even recognizable as a person. And, oh no, wait. Natasha.

"Natasha!" He called out, she was probably fine. She had to be fine. "Natasha! Where are you?!" He ran over to where they were before the bomb went off, and started searching there. He meticulously and carefully looked in an ever increasing spiral from this point, scared that if she was as badly hurt as Bucky, he may not even recognize her.

He thought it was more blood at first, something already splattered liberally all around the room. It wasn't quite the right color though, spilling out from under a fallen wall. He looked twice at it, his heart stopped as he recognized it as red hair.

"Oh gosh, Natasha! Can you hear me?!" He dove for the wreckage, started pulling away pieces of it, trying to get her to talk to him. Or prove she was alive. Finally he had the upper half of her body uncovered, to his relief she was still breathing. A gash on her neck was close to her jugular, and her arm was bent at an unnatural angle. But she was alive.

"Natasha, come on. Come on, you have to wake up. We need to get out of here!" Steve lightly shook her by the shoulders, if she woke up he could better find out her injuries and decide how best to transport her. He didn't know what to do, he was a soldier not a doctor. He had a few first aid classes during the war, but that had been too many years ago, too many. He hardly remembered anything that was not already obvious.

"Natasha Romanoff! Wake up!" He was almost shouting at her, it worked. Her eyes fluttered open, they didn't quite focus on him. They darted around the room, a bit too slow to be fine. "Natasha!" Steve spoke in her face, she wasn't focusing on anything.

"Natasha, we have to get out of here, I need you to tell me where you hurt, so that I can help you. Where are you injured? Come on, we have to get out. Help me out!" Natasha's eyes focused on something behind him for a second, and she spoke. "Clint..." Before unconsciousness pulled her back under.

Feeling stupid, Steve remembered his ear piece. Instantly Maria Hill was yelling. "Steve! What the hell?! What happened? Natasha was communicating with us, but about an hour ago we heard what we suspect was an explosion and her comm went dark." Steve grimaced. He still didn't know how badly Natasha was injured, and she had already been here for an hour without medical care. This wasn't good. He hastily explained to Maria.

"We thought the target was dead, he deployed some kind of, explosion I guess. I was unconscious until now, and Agent Romanoff is down. She's trapped under some rubble, I'm trying to get her out." Maria was in shocked silence for a few seconds, something odd for her. "Captain, please confirm what you just said. Agent Romanoff is down?" Steve was back to pulling debris off of Natasha, and not in the mood for repetitive questions.

"Yes, Agent Romanoff is down. Requesting a medical jet immediately. As soon as possible." At Maria's request Cap explained what he could see of Natasha's injuries, and gave his coordinates so they could be picked up here rather than the original meeting point.

Fifteen minutes later, the jet still wasn't here. And he had just found a reason for why his friend wouldn't wake up. He pulled off the last large chunk of rubble, as he did a low moan escaped her lips. Natasha's eyes rolled frantically under the closed lids, she was clearly in pain. And he instantly saw why.

Her legs were both twisted at unnatural angles, making her broken arm look almost normal. One of them was almost completely twisted around. A pool of blood was collecting under her, a quick examination and he worried that she might have a spinal break. Maria's voice entered his ear.

"Captain, we can't land the jet exactly at your destination. You will have to meet us, we can land roughly a mile away." Steve grimaced, he probed at Natasha's side where he realized more blood was oozing out. "Agent Romanoff's condition is worse than initially thought, I'm not sure she should be moved so far without medical care.

Steve heard Maria curse over the comm. "We can't land there Captain, it's too populated. Just be careful with her, we will be waiting for you." As Maria gave directions on where to meet, Steve hastily attempted to administer first aid. He tore clothing from the corpses of a few soldiers, and haphazardly bandaged the wounds. Once he had done what he could, he picked Natasha up in his arms. Maria was in his ear again.

"Captain, the jets ready. All you have to do is get there." Hearing this, Steve wiped more blood from the Black Widows face, and grimacing readjusted his grip on her. Her vibrant hair spilled over his arm, blood started flowing freely from her wounds. To Steve's alarm, his arms under her back soon became drenched in the crimson liquid. Natasha let out a whimpering wail he never thought he would hear come from her. He began walking and then jogging in the direction of help.

"Come on, Natasha. We have to get to the jet, they'll fix you and you will be fine. I am so sorry, I know this hurts." Steve tried to be gentle, but every time he had to readjust his grip on her, or if he stumbled over something, she made another sound of pain. Every exclamation physically hurt him too. He felt he had let down his fellow soldier, he had failed her. He had failed his team. He had failed- Oh no. Oh god, what was Clint going to do to him?"

As if hearing his thoughts, Natasha suddenly whimpered, "Clint... Hawkeye..." Another little twist of pain stabbed through Steve. He had privately always thought Natasha was the strongest of the group. Everyone else had their powers, Tony had a suit. Thor was practically a God. Banner could become a giant green monster who could single handily take on an alien army, and him? Well, he was a genetically altered soldier.

But Natasha had none of this. Nothing at all. She had her training, and her gun, but she still took more risks than any of her teammates. He had never seen her falter, never seen fear in her eyes. On one mission she had a knife buried in her arm, several bullet wounds, and what they later found was a cracked rib. She had continued fighting without even complaining, they didn't even know she was hurt until they were finished.

But now, she looked so fragile. So wounded. Was she supposed to be this pale? How much blood can a person lose? Oh god if she died he would never forgive himself. He was half a mile from the jet now, and Natasha was fading fast. Her hair looked even redder than usual against her stark white skin.

Steve turned on his ear piece again. "Maria, I am almost to the jet but Agent Romanoff needs medical assistance as soon as possible. Please make sure that a med team will be waiting upon arrival." Maria sounded grim when she replied. "We have an entire wing of the jet prepared for your arrival. We are all ready for you."

This was good to hear, but even better was the fact that after a few more minutes Steve could see the field where presumably the jet was hovering. When he got close enough the invisibility shield came down and the jet landed. The second they got onboard, a team of medical personnel whisked Natasha from Steve's arms, he watched as she was wheeled in a gurney down a hallway. He was almost alone now, a doctor was ordering Steve to follow him to be checked over, but all Steve could see was Maria Hill staring at him at the end of the hall. He felt he owed her an apology.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It all happened so fast, I don't know what else I could do." Steve blinked hard, his eyes burning. Maria looked more stunned than angry as she spoke. "No, it's, it's not you fault. I know if you could you would have done everything you could. And you already did everything that you could. It's just... Romanoff has been here since before I was even working for shield. I've seen her go through a lot, but this time is different. I have never seen her injured this bad." Maria shrugged, trying to appear normal before she continued.

"She's tough though. I'm sure she will be fine. She's been through a lot worse than a bombing before. A lot worse. She'll be fine before you can blink. She's a fast healer." Maria started to walk briskly away, the doctor probed at a burn on Steve's arm. It sounded to him that Maria was trying a bit too hard too convince herself Natasha would be fine.

"Maria!" Steve called after her before she turned a corner. She stopped, and turned. "Is anyone else onboard? Any of the Avengers?" They both knew what he was asking. Is Clint Barton onboard. Maria shook her head, pursing her lips. "No. But if you want I'll find their locations." Steve nodded, and worry turned his gut over. Maria started walking, he called her again.

"Maria!" Again, she turned around to him. "Captain? What?" He hesitated. Saying this would admit his worst fears, add realism to this nightmare. But he had to do this. He had to acknowledge his terror and act accordingly on it. If Natasha were to, to die, they would never forgive him. But if she died and he could do this one small thing to help, he should. He saw Maria's eyes burning. With anger? With fear? He opened his mouth.

"Maria, find Clint."

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Please review! Reviews make me want to write more! I accept requests, both for this story and for story ideas! I even accept criticism, but please be tactful :):):)


	2. Chapter 2

Wow people, thirteen follows?! Thirteen? I am so excited! My most followed story was in Hunger Games, and only had eight! And that was after a few chapters! To get so many for one, is amazing for me! Thank you! And thanks for the reviews :D I don't know the language of one, (Sorry!) but hopefully you were saying something nice, haha! And bluerose192 I just mentioned the backstory of Natasha's injuries in a previous mission spur of the moment, but I will see if I can think of a good story based around that! Keep an eye out for one :D Ok enough rambling, enjoy the story! I will update soon!  
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"Well Captain, your good to go. Just watch the burns for the next few days, and if your head wound starts bleeding again let me know." The doctor had just finished taking care of Steve, who luckily wasn't badly hurt. The worst wound was a gash at the base of his skull, a few stitches fixed that up though. Steve was so consumed with fear and guilt he had hardly felt the pain.

"Thanks Doctor, I really appreciate it. Do you by any chance know where I can find Agent Romanoff?" Steve asked, getting up from the exam table. The doctor frowned before answering. "I have no idea, but based on what I know it sounds like she should be in ward three." Steve flinched at this. That was where extreme medical cases were sent, usually people in need of extensive surgery. Or people who were expected to die.

"Thanks Doc, I'll see you next time I get injured." Steve smiled grimly. "But hopefully that won't be for a while." The Doctor laughed politely, by the time he stopped Captain America was out the door and already down the hall. He had changed out if his blood soaked uniform, and washed off every bit of the liquid that has gotten under his suit and onto his skin. But every time he looked down he thought his arms and hands were soaked in red again. He felt as if no matter what he would never get the spilled blood off of him. Ever. Maybe he was over reacting, he might find Natasha in a hospital room already totally fine! She would probably laugh at him if she ever found out how worried he had been about her.

Cheered slightly by the small hope that maybe Natasha was ok, Steve made his way to Ward 3. But then on the way he saw Maria Hill in the hallway. And she did not look happy.

"Agent Hill!" Steve called out to her, the hall was crowded, so when Maria didn't respond Steve thought maybe she didn't hear him. He walked closer to her, maneuvering through the crowd of people before he called her again. "Agent Hill! Agent Hill!" Still she ignored him. Was she suddenly deaf? Unless, oh no, what if she was scared to tell him something about Natasha? Steve felt an icy spike of fear dart through him. He moved and found himself in front of Maria.

She was walking briskly, and when Steve so suddenly appeared in her path she almost fell over him. She looked into his eyes, and Steve couldn't help but gasp. Maria was as white as paper, her usually neat hair was falling into her face rather than styled around it. And her eyes, they looked both sorrowful and dead at the same time. Steve paused trying to tactfully phrase his question.

"Natasha... Is she...?" He asked, dreading the answer. Maria shook her head. "No, no. She's alive. It's just, it's not looking too good captain." She took a shuddering breathe before she continued. "I'll let a Doctor tell you all the details, but they think something's wrong with her spine, most likely with some internal bleeding." Maria glanced around, and seeing the many employees in the hall (many dawdling trying to listen in on the conversation) shook her head, and grabbed Steve's hand.

"Captain, please follow me." Steve really just wanted to see Natasha, ask a doctor to explain to him everything that was wrong with her. He wanted to be by her if, no. When she woke up she could see a friendly face. But Agent Hill was his superior, he had to follow her. Besides she might have something important to tell him.

Maria led Steve into an empty room, containing nothing but a sterile hospital bed and some medical equipment. She closed the door, and turned towards him. "Captain, I can't get ahold of Agent Barton, I can't find him. He is on a mission somewhere in Asia, so it's possible he is not somewhere that has an internet or phone connection. But if something is wrong with him, if he is injured or has been kidnapped, if we can't get ahold of him!" Maria's shoulders crumpled and she began pacing around the small room.

Steve had never seen Maria like this, it was as if he was seeing her for the first time when she wasn't hiding behind her walls. What a pity it took fear and maybe grief to expose what a person is really like. He got up, and wasn't sure what to do. He had little experience with women as it was, but he could probably attempt to comfort a normal one. But Maria was not normal, she was one of the most self disciplined and maybe most terrifying people he had ever known. She never faltered, never stumbled.  
She always helped the Avengers, but never got close to them (with the exception of Clint and Natasha). She was a complete mystery to Steve, what could he do to help her?

Adding to his alarm, he thought he saw a tear steal down her face. Just for a second. But he must have imagined it, this was the last person in the world he thought he would ever see cry. Yet when she spoke, Maria's voice did sound unusually husky.

"Captain, we have to find Agent Barton. We have to. Because-" Maria cut herself off and closed her eyes. Steve moved closer to her and cautiously placed a hand on her arm, feeling like a complete idiot. Maria flinched, but didn't say anything. Just stopped moving.

"Hey, it's going to be fine. Can't you guys track him? I am sure as soon as he can Clint will contact you guys!" Actually Steve wasn't sure about that, but it didn't hurt to be positive. "When was he due to return anyway? He'll probably be back at headquarters soon!" Maria's lips tightened at this, her eyes narrowing thinly. Her arm jerked nervously under his hand, like she wanted to yank it away. But she didn't.

"Captain, this is confidential information. Agent Barton was sent on a two week long mission a few days ago, he was supposed to check in with us last night before starting surveillance on his target. He never contacted us though. It may be that he was unable to make contact because it would risk blowing his cover, but we don't think that's the case. He could have been injured, but it is most likely he was apprehended." Maria swallowed and finally moved her arm away from Steve's hand.

"If we can't find Agent Barton soon, I don't know if he will ever be able to see Natasha again." Hearing these words, Steve couldn't hold back a gasp of horror. "Mari- Agent Hill, just tell me. Be honest! How badly injured is she?"

Maria didn't meet his eyes. "The Doctor said that they will attempt operating once her condition has stabilized, but they think recovery is unlikely. It's essential we find Barton soon. If you'll excuse me Captain, I have to go back to my work."

Before Steve's eyes, it was like all of Maria's walls rose up around her again. Emotion was gone, her eyes were neutral and sedate. She swiftly pushed her hair out of her face, then she was just gone. Steve was alone. He wanted to process what had just happened, it wasn't like Hill had shown happiness or even admitted to being scared. Yet he had just witnessed more emotion in the agent than he ever thought he would. But he didn't have time to think about that. He had to get to Natasha.  
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Yeah, I am dragging this out a bit! Because, oh my gosh what is happening to my story? I never imagined Steve and Maria together, but that does seem to be where my writing is taking them! Weird! I also never wrote a Captain America story before. He is a surprisingly fun character! So flattered by all the follows! Please review, suggest ideas, enjoy the story! I will update soon! What do you want to happen next? Should Hawkeye arrive in time? Should Natasha die? Should I have a chapter from Clint's point of view? Decisions decisions! (Fun fact- I decided Clint should be in Asia because I am going there for the spring term next year! Haha random fun fact...)


	3. Chapter 3

I so appreciate the latest flood of comments! Ok, it was more like four comments, but I am extremely easily pleased and excited! Seriously, every comment means so much to me! And people, you SHOULD comment! If not then Natasha would be DEAD in this story, maybe even in this chapter, and the story probably would have ended in the next chapter. But thanks to your comments and suggestions, I MIGHT let her live (Come on, I need to give you all some suspense!) and I have ideas for four or five other chapters! Exciting! I love writing, I mean I never know where the story will go :D And this one is turning out to be more interesting than originally planned! And now in reply to comments :)  
RollingUpHigh- I am going to Changzhou China! I am going to be teaching English at an immersion school for kids, I am beyond excited! I am counting down the days!

Sandy-wmd- Wow, so many ideas! I had not even considered getting all the avengers together to save Clint! That sounds like so much fun to write! I am totally making that happen!

sillystarshine- Haha thanks! Glad to know it was a positive comment, thanks for the translation! Hmm the commenter was just guest so

Guest- Thanks! I love Captain America and Black Widow, but don't really see them as a couple :) I am more a fan of "Clintasha!"

And to the other three commenters, THIS IS WHY YOU COMMENT PEOPLE! Because of you, Natasha will most likely NOT die now ;););)

On with the story!  
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Steve soon found his way to Ward 3, and instantly found his way blocked. A burly man in a doctors coat stood in front of a door with the number three on it, his arms were crossed. He wouldn't let Steve in.

"Captain, I am sorry. We are still trying to get Agent Romanoff stabilized, you would really just be in the way. I can promise you we are doing everything we can for her, and you being in that room will do nothing to help." Steve thought differently. He knew how badly Natasha was injured, he knew that she might in fact be dying. He knew he could never live with himself if he didn't at least try to be there for her. In case she woke up before... Well, in case she woke up. He tried again.

"Doctor, please. I respect you authority in the hospital, and I understand how I could be an annoyance or distraction. Couldn't I just stand in a corner, be there for her? Please? I would like for her to know that she isn't alone. I don't want her to be alone if she wakes up."

The Doctor snorted. "Captain, if she wakes up she will not be alone. She will in fact be surrounded by some of Shield's top doctors. Now if you will excuse me, we will contact you if there is any change." The Doctor turned and was about to walk through the door. Ok, enough Captain Nice Guy. Time to pull out the big guns.

Steve slammed shut the door that was just beginning to open, he held it shut as the other man attempted to open it. Ignoring his protests, Steve leaned in closer to the Doctor. "Sir, I am sure you know all about Agent Romanoff. You know her medical history, missions she has been on, things of that nature?" The man struggled to open the door. "What? Of course I do Captain! This is ridiculous, open the door!" Steve didn't.

"And Doctor, I am sure you know about Romanoff's... Powerful friends." The man stopped pulling the door at these words. He glanced at Steve. "What, you mean the-" "The Avengers." Steve interrupted. "You know me, but have you met the others yet? Dr Banner, for example? Oh I am sure you would get along splendidly with him, both being in the medical profession. And Bruce is quite fond of Natasha! Protective, I would go so far to say. He is the nicest guy... Well, unless you make him angry. Or upset. Or perhaps if you do something that could hurt one of his friends. Then he really can't be held accountable for what he might do." The Dr. gulped, and tried feebly pulling at the door again. Steve continued holding it shut, and speaking.

"Oh, and then there's Thor of course! Good old Thor, very nice for a DemiGod! You do know he resides on earth now, don't you? Yes, quite convenient if we need him for anything! Let me tell you, he is a bit tough looking if you don't know him, but once you get acquainted he is the nicest guy!- Unless you upset him. Of course then you may just find how tough he is! And boy, is he loyal to his team. Good fighter too! Extremely good." The doctor was sweating now, he opened his mouth to feebly explain again why Steve couldn't enter the room, he was interrupted.

"Let's see who else... Oh of course, Mr Stark. Well you know what, Stark and I aren't the best buddies, but he and Agent Romanoff actually are closer than you might think. Not many people know that! They worked together before he was even recruited, did you know that? Few do. Really one hell of a story! You should hear it some time. Of corse Stark doesn't have his suits anymore, and that is a shame." The doctor relaxed slightly, at least one of the Avengers wasn't a threat to him. Then Steve opened his mouth. "Oh, but of course I forget, Tony is pretty amazing when it comes to computers! Do you know he once hacked into Shields personal files? Shields personal files! He got all of them! Isn't that something! Yes sir, I imagine it would be hard for a person to hide anything from him. Or better yet, with a few clicks of the nmouse Stark could probably do amazing things. Empty a bank account, access anyone's files, probably even erase a mans identity." The terrified Doctor was more than ready to open the door now, when he tried to Steve held it closed.

"And of course, you already know Agent Barton. Don't you? Of course you do. You know, the master assassin, extremely skilled with a bow, rather eager for revenges when necessary. And how long has he been Agent Romanoff's partner? Eight, ten, I think could it be eleven years? Wow, there is commitment! Dedication! Loyalty! They are quite a pair, aren't they? So good together, so close." Steve didn't have to say anymore, the Doctor was already picturing Natasha dying. Clint finding out that he, the Doctor, wouldn't let Steve, the closest thing Natasha had to a friend on the ship, into her room. He would probably be dead or seriously injured within a week. Not to mention the fact that Barton was the best in the business especially because he specialized in kills that could not be traced back to him...

Pale and shaking, palms sweaty the Doctor cried out. "Ok! Ok! We'll have her moved to a room connected to one of the viewing rooms we use for students. Please, I'm sorry! Please! Just wait when we transfer her, it will only be a few minutes- I promise!" Steve lifted his hand from the door, and the terrified Doctor ran into the room, slamming the door behind him.

Steve would have preferred to be allowed in the same room as Natasha, but he would have to be content with seeing her through a viewing window. At least if things started going downhill he would only be a door away from her. He felt a bit guilty terrorizing the Dr., but he was still glad his threats had worked. It wasn't hard to come up with them. He had just named all of the things he was terrified the fellow Avengers would say do and feel if he was responsible for the death of Natasha. And he was responsible for this, whatever the outcome may be.

Before long a nurse came out, she was short and petite barley coming to Steve's elbow since he was so tall. She looked half terrified, and half star struck. He rather loathed the star struck expression he saw on far too many agents, newbies mostly. Agent Fury had explained a couple weeks after New York that the Avengers were not celebrities, but agents like everyone else in Shield. There should be no autographs, requests for photos or as he put it "fangirling". Of course you can't exactly order people to not feel star struck by someone, though Steve wish you could. And they did stop requesting autographs- So Stark had started charging ten dollars for his instead. He had made a tidy sum from that little scheme.

The nurse had a squeaky voice. "Captain, Agent Romanoff has been moved. You can follow me now." She kept staring at him. He didn't care except it was annoying. He just wanted to be by his friend. He followed the nurse as they walked through identical sterile halls, passing what felt like hundreds of dull gray doors. Finally they stopped in front of one of the doors, it had the words "Viewing Theatre" on it. The small nurse opened the door for Steve. "Here Captain, thank you- uh I mean, good luck? Um-" The girl was flushed and unsure what to say. "I mean, I am sorry about Agent Romanoff. I hope she recovers soon." Steve smiled at her politely, and entered the room.  
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Ok that just feels like a good place to end it! But if I get five comments today, I might just post a new chapter today ;) BTW have any of you seen the movie Frozen yet? It is AMAZING! It is my new favorite Disney movie! Really! And I have an idea for a Frozen fan fiction story, but there is not a category for that yet. Should I wait for someone else to make one (no clue how this all works) or can I request a section for Frozen stories? Anywho, thanks for reading! Please review and I hope you enjoyed this!


	4. Chapter 4

Ouch now I feel like a liar :p I got a fourth comment last night, but didn't see it until this morning! And with doing Christmas baking today I didn't have time to write until now! Sorry!

sillystarshine Really? I must have missed it when I looked in the movie section! Thanks! Now I can start writing about those awesome characters :D

Sandy-wmd I am really glad you liked it! Yeah, I had to include that. Because in the Cap 2 comercial AND in Iron Man 3 (when his arc reactor is removed) I was just like wait, where the heck is this hospital where they allow anyone to watch their friends and loved ones being operated on?! So I had to give an explanation :D

aloneonthewater Well I tried to write it so that Cap was not exactly threatening! He was more implying what could happen! It would have been one thing if he had said, "Listen, let me in or I am telling Thor to kill you!" Instead he was more like, "hmm I hope you let me in, but I should warn you that if you don't this might happen!" Also, I figured he was desperate to be by Natasha :):):)

Ok, let's go!  
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Steve entered the viewing room, it was all neutral colors with an uncomfortable looking row of chairs in front of a large glass window. He instantly gravitated towards it and peered intently into a bustling crowded hospital room. He couldn't hear anything through the glass, but he had a clear view of everything. The Doctor who had blocked his entrance was scrubbing up his hands at a sink in the corner, another was fiddling at some kind of monitor with a flashing yellow light. Steve didn't know what that meant. A third and fourth doctor were examining a thick folder that was crammed full of papers. Nurses were everywhere, carrying trays of tools, IV bags, bandages. And at the center of all this activity was an oasis of complete stillness.

A sterile white bed had wires and tubes snaking out from and around it, a seemingly massive wall of machines was to the right of the bed. With lights blinking, numbers appearing and every screen showing or doing something different, Steve wished he knew what it all meant. Because of course in the bed was Natasha. Who else would it be really? He had expected and wanted to see her, but it was still startling.

He must have forgotten some of her injuries, why didn't he notice the dozens of cuts and scratches covering her face, and what could be seen of her arms? Was that giant red mark on her neck a burn or just a bruise? Someone had pulled Natasha's hair back away from her face, without the colorful red locks she looked utterly pale and devoid of any color. A nurse came up and hooked Natasha to an IV with clear fluid, and then to another IV with a large bag of blood. She must have lost more than Steve thought if she needed a blood transfusion.

The next hour or so was a confusing blur for Steve. He didn't understand half of what was going on, and because he couldn't hear anything being said he was even more in the dark. Everyone was moving rapidly around Natasha, administering shots, replacing bandages, putting in stitches, prodding and examining injuries. Steve noticed that an unusual amount of attention was focused on Natasha's spine. He remembered the way her back had felt in his arms, how limp her legs were. What happened if someone's back had a fracture or even worse a break? Could a person recover from that? Could they even walk again? Steve had so many questions, but he didn't want to enter the room and distract anyone from their work. That could be disastrous. The movement had slowed down somewhat in the room, and he felt a bit of hope warm his heart when he saw many of the doctors and nurses looking somewhat more relaxed, a few of them even left. After another half hour a doctor (not the one he had spoken with earlier) came into Steve's room- he wasn't smiling.

"Hello Steve, I'm Dr. Olsson, it's an honor to meet you." He held his hand out, so Steve shook it. "Well, I have some good news and some bad news about Agent Romanoff." Here the Dr. paused, hoping Steve would request what he would prefer to hear first. He didn't.

"Well, I'll just explain her condition to you then. It appears she was not so much harmed by the explosion, but rather by her collision with a wall- especially after said wall collapsed on her. Her head must have hit something, because not long after you both arrived she slipped into a coma. It's not that unusual, she should wake up within the next few days. And we have been working on a couple dozen surface wounds, some of the cuts were rather deep. Especially one that almost nicked her jugular vein, but luckily it didn't. She has two broken ribs, and we need a few more X-rays but we are certain she has internal bleeding in some form or other, most of in the abdomen. We have her as stabilized as we can get her, but time is critical. We have to operate, probably tonight. We're going to wait for some specialists to arrive for the operation, but we expect to proceed as soon as possible. Any delay could be fatal."

Steve nodded at this, worry gnawing at his gut. Internal bleeding was definitely not good, what if they began operating and found the problem was more serious than suspected? How do you even fix that? It can be fixed right? His shoulders slumped. This whole situation sounded a bit better than he hoped, but it was still pretty bad. At least they had hope she could recover. "Well, what's the good news then?" Steve asked, hoping it would be reassuring.

But the Dr. winced slightly, his stance changed. "Um, actually that was the good news. She is stable, only two ribs are broken, and we can operate tonight." Steve's stomach did a backflip. "What's the bad news?" He asked, dreading the answer. "Well, you see, Romanoff's back and legs seemed to take the blunt of the force when the wall fell. Her legs are broken- you could even say the right one is twisted. We have to operate and set it properly, but with luck and time they should heal. With anyone else I would say they don't have a chance of walking again, but I've seen Romanoff heal from some pretty amazing injuries. She might recover from that. But her spine... A few of her vertebrae have cracks, and two of them are almost jammed into one another. We need to operate on them."

Steve frowned. "So besides the obvious problems, what's bad about all this? Her not being able to walk again?" The Dr. sighed. "Well, that is one concern. But also the operation is... Dangerous. It is not without risks. If any mistakes are made, since the spine is connected to the brain any number of things could happen. She could lose all use of her lower half, she could wake and be in pain for the rest of her life. Really any number of things could go wrong resulting in her becoming brain dead or, well, simply dead."

"And what if we don't operate? What then?" The Dr frowned. "She would probably die. Her spine definitely has some form of bleeding going on, and it's so badly mangled that if she woke up and began moving she could twist and injure something fact, yes. She will most definitely die if we don't operate."

Steve scowled at this. "Let me get this straight, if you don't operate she dies. But if you do operate, something will still likely go wrong that would result in Agent Romanoff dying! Are you telling me that's the situation?"

The Dr stammered. " well, I didn't say- What I mean is- I just wanted to prepare you in case of anything. Um. We are going to, we are doing, our best. Really. We are going to do everything we can." The room spun around Steve, he felt ill. Natasha was most likely going to die. She was going to die. He may as well have killed her. It was all his fault.

"Doc, can you honestly tell me what you think the final outcome will be?" Steve asked, dreading he answer. Apparently the Doctor did too. He hesitated and dawdled before answering. "Well, Captain, we are going to do everything we possibly can do for her. You have to believe that." Steve interrupted, "Yes, but what do you think will happen?" The other man sighed. "I'm sorry Captain, I'm going to help and do my best. But I wouldn't be sure about recovery. It's rather unlikely."  
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It took Steve forty two minutes to find Maria Hill. He had to talk to someone, and he didn't know anyone else on the ship very well. Or at all, really. Plus he needed to know if there was any update on the location of Clint, or the other Avengers. He found her in a small office, removed from the always busy hub of Command Central. It wasn't her official office, she probably wanted to be away from people. The door was ajar and she was tapping away at a small laptop, a slew of papers and files covered the desk. She didn't look up from her work, but instantly knew Steve was there. She wasn't really sure why she knew it was Steve, she just did.

"Hello Captain, I hear you got in to see Agent Romanoff?" She asked, eyes not flickering from the screen in front of her. She didn't see him nod before she continued. "I know why you're here, so I will just get to the point. We have recovered enough evidence that we are positive Barton has been kidnaped. There is no doubt about it. We have compiled what we know about the last area he was known to be in, and are trying to calculate who most likely has him, and where."

Steve felt even more hopeless than he had a moment before. If Bartom was kidnapped, it could be weeks before he was found. Natasha could be dead before then. If the operation failed she could even be dead by tomorrow. "Are there many places he could be?" He asked, tackling the problem he could solve first.

Maria was searching through the papers on the desk now. "Well of course, but only three that I would recommend pursuing. All of them are around the area he was last seen, two of them run by terrorists one by a kind of a Chinese version of the mafia. They would all know who Barton is, and have reasons for wanting to apprehend him. I am going to recommend we search them as soon as possible. Besides even if they do not have him, we have business with each of them anyway. You know, kill two birds with one stone, that sort of thing. Thy way even if they don't have Barton we can get some work done."

Well it's good they have some idea of his location, but it didn't sound any too definite to Steve. He leaned up against the desk, and looked down at some of the papers. Obviously some of them were from Natasha and Clint's personal files, respectful of their privacy Steve averted his eyes from these. One page had a photo of Coulson, with the small word typed next to his name. Deceased. Looking up, Steve found Maria's eyes staring at him. Embarrassed, he moved back and asked her.

"And what if he isn't in any of these places?" He was worried about this, luck was not with him lately. And it would be pretty lucky if Clint was that easy to find. "Do you have any other ideas? Any leads?"

At these words Maria slammed her laptop shut. "No. Actually I don't have any idea where he might be Captain! Sorry to disappoint you. If Barton wasn't so pig headed I could locate him with a tracker, but he refuses to have one on his person, same as Romanoff. I already have the council breathing down my neck over injuring one of their top agents, and losing the other, both on the same day, so unless you have any other ideas maybe you could just let me work?!" She said all of this very quickly, never raising her voice. She didn't have to because the frustration in her eyes spoke volumes.

Taken by surprise, Steve moved back towards the door a few steps. "Agent Hill, I wasn't criticizing you, I was only asking a question! I know you are doing everything you can, I was just trying to think. Plan ahead. I am impressed you even found any possible places Clint could be, I would have no idea where to look. Really. When do you think I should leave to find him?"

Maria frowned at this. "You? Why do you assume you are going?" Steve shrugged. "Maybe because you and I know the best chance of retrieving Clint alive is to get the Avengers together? Maybe because I am one of your best soldiers?" (Maybe it's because if Romanoff dies, I owe it to Barton to at least save his life...) "Maybe it's because if I am not assigned to this mission, I will steal a jet and fly to Asia myself to retrieve Barton. And you know I will, it wouldn't be the first time either."

Maria couldn't argue with this. And she had been planning to assign Steve anyway, better than having him just waiting here for Natasha to die. "Ok then, I will recommend you for the mission. Anything else I can do for you?"

Steve knew Natasha might not have very much time, he had to get Clint soon. And that meant one thing.  
"Assemble the Avengers."

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This is why I usually wait a few days to write, so I have time to be inspired and to do my best. Well it's not the worst chapter I wrote, so I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will have Thor, Iron Man and Hulk! Please review and suggest ideas!


	5. Chapter 5

This is a dribble chapter, about the remaining three Avengers being recruited to rescue Hawkeye! I am excited to write this part, it should be fun! Thank you for reviews, favorites, and follows! By the way, I am now working on a story for the movie Frozen- check it out if you have time! Please PLEASE review!  
-Ugh tried writing this so many ways... Pretend the end of Iron Man 3 never happened and he still has his suits ;) Seriously, how he will be in Avengers Two is beyond me... Still glad he is though! ;) Oh and I make references to Thor 2 and Iron Man 3, just in case you haven't seen the movies and have no clue what I am talking about. -ANOTHER note. I am going off how Thor 2 came out a couple months ago, and saying he had not been back on earth before then after New York.  
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Tony Stark  
NYC, 1:29 AM

Tony was up late again, not because he couldn't sleep but simply because he didn't want to. He was in his workshop, working on his latest project. It appeared to be a laser weapon that could instantly stun, rather than kill. Like a far more sophisticated version of a tazer, complete with the ability to awake who you stunned on command with a separate laser gun. The only problem was that Tony was having trouble finding people to test it on, even though he had sworn it would be painless. Upon hearing he was looking for guinea pigs to test his latest toy on, Pepper informed Tony she had to go on an "unplanned" business trip for a couple days. So, Tony used the one guinea pig he could always depend on.

"Aaaaaah! Oh god, Jarvis, how long was I out that time?" Tony asked, rubbing his head where he had stunned himself. "You were unconscious for forty two minutes, and twelve seconds sir. It should be noted I began attempting to wake you one minute after you stunned yourself though. I think you still have a few bugs to work out." The computers voice was a tad sarcastic.

Still rubbing his head, Tony stood up. "Gah, ouch, dammit. Ok Jarvis, make a note, subject woke up with a severe headache, and some nausea. I think we need to lower the number of electrons, and maybe narrow the beam of the laser... I wonder why the wake up gun didn't work. Maybe we should try a small dose of adrenaline added to that shot?" Still rubbing his head, Tony moved to the coffee pot and poured himself a large cup. "I guess Pepper was right in not wanting to test this one. Don't tell her I said that though!"

Jarvis spoke. "Sir, perhaps we should continue this project on people other than you? If you had not woken soon, I feared I would need to call an ambulance. Or at least a doctor." Tony waved his friend off. "Oh come on Jarvis, I can handle this! Let's uh, call it a night? And we can get back to it tomorrow. Sound good?" "Oh yes sir, quite."

Tony and Jarvis shut down the workshop, and Tony headed to bed. He was almost to his room when Jarvis spoke. "Oh, by the way sir, when you were unconscious you received a phone call. It's from Shield." Tony stopped walking. "What, really? Well, tell them I'm too busy to fly into anymore wormholes for them. See if Superman's available for all I care."

He entered his room, Jarvis's voice followed. "Sir, this call seems rather important. I did take the liberty of recording the message, and I should tell you the call concerned Natasha Romanoff." This made Tony pause, this was different. He owed Natasha big time. When they first met he had a crush on her, but not anymore. They were not friends exactly. But they had fought a war together and he owed her his life. If she hadn't helped him find the component for his second arc reactor, if she had closed that hole in the sky a second sooner- he would be dead right now. He owed her enough to listen to the call.

"Ok Jarvis, play the damn message and then I'm going to sleep." "With pleasure Sir. I will begin playing it now."

The voice of Maria Hill filled the room. "Stark, this is Agent Hill from Shield. I am calling to inform you that Agent Romanoff has been badly injured in the line of duty, and that Agent Barton has been apprehended somewhere in Asia. We need you to come in so we can get Barton back, preferably as soon as possible. We will contact you soon, if you do not contact us within the next twelve hours we WILL come to get you."  
The message ended.

Tony sat on his bed for a minute absorbing this information. He had fought with Natasha and Barton a few times since New York, what did Shield define as a "bad injury?" If they got Natasha out, why was Barton still being held by enemies? There was obviously more to this story. Tony glanced at his bed, wishing he had spent the night sleeping instead of tinkering with his new toy. But he had to go. He owed Natasha.

"Jarvis, please call Shield back and ask where I should meet them, can you get me more coffee? And I'm going to need a suit. Pull out Mark 53 please."  
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Thor Odinson  
London England, 9:35 AM

Thor and Jane were still in England, they had work to do. After the merging of the nine realms happened here, Thor had some jobs to finish up. And Jane had an excessive amount of other worldly things she could examine! Just last month, Thor had rounded up the last few creatures that had escaped from the realms. Now he and Jane were unsure if they wanted to stay here, or go back to America. At the moment they were happy here, but they were not the kind of people who could be content in one place for long. They were considering going on a trip around the world, since Thor wanted to see everything in this realm that he could.

But at the moment, he was happy just having breakfast with the woman he loved. Jane was not the best cook, so they were eating in a smallish restaurant where Thor was unlikely to be recognized. Though now that he wore clothing that wasn't armor, he was rarely stopped by gushing strangers anymore. Thor was digging into a half dozen plates in front of him, and Jane picked at her omelet.

"Are you sure you don't have work here anymore, Thor? It would be awful if we left for, Europe or somewhere, and had to come back because of something like an invasion of fire elves that slipped by you." Thor smiled at her. "What? No, there are no fire elves... Lava Imps, yes. But I am positive I got all of those. I promise everything other worldly is gone from London."

Jane smiled at this, and reached for his hand. "Well, almost everything..."  
They grinned dopily at each other for a second. Thor squeezed her hand gently. "Jane, even if there is any danger remaining here I could easily fly back to vanquish it. It wouldn't even take a day, most likely. I am ready to travel with you, shall we explore this realm together?"

Jane looked like she was about to swoon. "Ok, sure, whatever you say... Let's leave this week then..." They leaned in to each other and were about to kiss- then Janes phone rang. "Oh darn it, don't move, just let me answer this..." Thor grinned at her, remaining over the table waggling his eyebrows. Jane answered the phone.

"Hello? I'm sorry, who? Maria Hill?" Thor sat back, mild surprise on his face. He remembered Maria, she had been nice enough to him when last they met, before he and the Avengers had to vanquish the Chituari. Why would she be calling Jane?

"What? Your with Shield? Oh, sorry... You want to speak with Thor?" Jane looked at him, asking away from the phone. "Do you want to speak with her?" Thor nodded, held his hand out for the phone. He still wasn't used to the delicate little devices that he seemed to crush so easily. Jane had gone through five phones since Thor arrived. Not wanting to break another, he held the phone with the very tips of his fingers.

"Lady Hill, it is a pleasure to speak to you again. To what do I owe the pleasure of this conversation?" Jane watched as Thor spoke for the next few minutes, not saying much. Just nodding, occasionally saying "I see" and then, "I'll be there as soon as I can." When he hung up, his face was grim. He gulped at his large mug of coffee, draining it in only a few swallows. He was silent for a few moments, Jane waited a couple minutes before asking. "What's wrong? Is... Everything ok?"

Thor glanced down at his full plates, and pushed them away. His appetite was gone. "Natasha Romanoff has been gravely wounded, they do not know if she will make it to see another week. Her comrade in arms, Clint Barton, has been apprehended. The Avengers are being called together to rescue Barton, in the hopes we can bring him to Lady Natasha before she leaves this earth. I have to go help them, what do you think?"

Jane knew about all the Avengers, Thor had spoken several times of Romanoff and Barton, saying he had rarely seen two people who fought together so well. He also had told her Natasha was fierce enough to fight with anyone from his own realm. She also knew that Thor felt loyalty fiercely and deeply. And he was loyal to The Avengers, they were his new army. Just as he was his new family. Besides, this mission didn't sound dangerous. He would just be rescuing Clint, that should be simple for Thor. He'd be back within a few days. She smiled at him.

"You should go, just- you had better becareful. Ok? Where do you need to go? Should I get you a plane ticket?" Hearing these words, Thor grinned rather gleefully. "No, no... I can fly myself.  
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Bruce Banner  
2:41 PM Chenai India

Bruce always knew he would probably come back to India. He had had a nice few months hanging out with Stark, designed some new software for his suits and made some pretty interesting weapons. But he couldn't take being in a large city where so many people recognized him. Every time he went somewhere crowded, he imagined what would happen if he hulked out. He wishes that like Natasha and Clint, he could have had his image wiped from all broadcasts about the New York Incident. Because too many people knew who he was. Every time they wanted to talk to him, thank him for saving him, he felt guilty. He didn't do that. A monster did. He finally cracked when a little boy recognized him, and to him that when he grew up he wanted to be a Hulk too. He felt like his heroism was a lie, he couldn't do this anymore.

So he came back to India. Here he could help people, be a doctor again. He was busy every day, doing good work. No one knew him here as anything other than "doctor". He was happy, but also lonely. He sometimes wondered if he should have stayed with Tony a bit longer.

It had been a long day, he was called in to the local hospital to help with an emergency appendix removal, at least the patient had survived. It was a close call though. Exhausted, Bruce headed back to his apartment. It was small, and u personalized. He wasn't the kind of person to fill a home with knick knacks or photos. He made himself a cup of tea, and sat at the table with his laptop. He was surprised when he saw he had an email, more so when he saw it was from Shield.

He read it quickly, read it again to process it. Natasha injured, Clint missing. He knew he had to go help. Maybe he could just help with his brain, they didn't say they needed The Other guy. And even if he did he would still help. He had almost killed Natasha before, if she was dying now he should help by bringing Clint to say goodbye to her. In ten minutes Bruce had his bag packed and was requesting that Shield pick him up that night.  
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Awwwww the Avengers are together again! How fun! Hope you enjoyed this. PLEASE review! And if you want check out my Frozen story, I think it's pretty good :D I will update soon!


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks for the reviews! As always, they make me SO happy! Especially the last one! I try so hard to make my Avenger stories realistic and true to the characters, I am thrilled someone noticed my efforts! But I don't know how many more of these I can write :( This may be one of the last chapters. I am glad you enjoyed this story everyone! Thanks for reading and please review!  
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Steve was in the viewing room again, he couldn't remember how long he had been here. It could have been half an hour, or an entire day. It was hard keeping track of time in here, this room was so separated from the rest of the world. He stood at the window, watching nurses and doctors do their jobs. Everyone looked tense and nervous, they were still waiting for the specialist to arrive for the operation. Apparently he had another job that needed completing before he headed here.

Steve hadn't gotten an update on Natasha's condition for a while, but she still looked the same. Unconscious, pale, still, exactly the same. People in comas don't really change much, as Steve was finding out. The room was sedately busy, everything appeared to be normal.

And then, a red light began flashing on one of the monitors. Steve couldn't hear through the glass, but as soon as the light started blinking every head in the room turned towards it. Apparently an alarm was also going off. People dropped what they were doing, mouths were all moving fast as doctors ordered nurses to do things, everyone looked scared. A second before the room had almost been peaceful, now it was a hive of activity and movement. Steve had to know what was going on, he ran for the door and tried to open it. It was locked. He returned to the window, and started pounding on the glass.

"Open the door! I command you to open the door! What is happening? WHATS WRONG?" Either the other room was also soundproof, or Steve was being ignored because no one even glanced towards him. A tray with medical tools was being wheeled in, new doctors were flooding the room. Steve couldn't even see Natasha anymore, just a crowd of people clumped around her. Tools began being passed to whoever was in the middle of the crowd. Shots, oxygen mask, bandages. Scalpels. Knifes. Scissors. Were they operating now? What was happening?

Steve returned to the door, in his horrified mind, he had to get it open. Had to. He could find out what the problem was, he was a super soldier! He could fix it! He could save her. He couldn't let her die. But when he returned to the window, every face in the room was grim. He saw no hope in those faces. He resumed pounding the window, why couldn't he break it? What the hell was this glass even made of? More tools were being passed into the center of people, none of them looked good. Steve recognized one of them as a defibrillator.

For ten minutes or so, he watched as the doctors did everything they could to save his friend. They tried. They tried everything. Steve did not see the moment when Natasha died, he saw the moment when the doctors gave up. When they dropped the tools, lifted their hands, and backed away. A nurse pulled a sheet over Natasha's body. When the crowd of people had slowly dispersed, Steve could still see some red hair peeking out from under it.

He was in shock. Pure shock. How could someone who had always fought so hard, who had such a will to live, die like this? Not even awake? Slipping away so quickly? He felt tears begin burning his eyes, ashamed he looked down to blink them away. When he looked up, Natasha was next to him. Or something that looked a lot like Natasha.

Maybe he should have been shocked, or surprised. He was so grieved he just stared at her. "Natasha, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. It's all my fault, it's all my own damn fault. I failed you! I killed you!" Steve wouldn't let himself cry, but he was close. Natasha just stared at him, with accusatory eyes. She didn't say anything. Steve continued. "I failed you! You trusted me to watch your back, and I FAILED you! I failed the team! I'm sorry!" He wanted to grab her hand, knew that even if he tried he couldn't touch it.

Natasha opened her mouth. "Steve, find Clint. Please find Clint- before it's too late." She smiled sadly at Steve, reached out to touch his face. The second she did, he woke up.  
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Steve was in his bed, in the room Shield had provided for him. He was drenched in sweat, for minutes he just sucked air in and out of his lungs. He got out of bed, entered the bathroom. Splashing cold water on his face, Steve reassured himself he was now awake. Catching his breathe, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. His hands curled into fists. It was only a dream. Just a horrible awful nightmare of a dream. Steve was no stranger to nightmares, but he usually knew he was dreaming. This had felt so- real. He touched the place on his face where Natasha had touched him. It was all so real.

He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep now, so he got dressed and decided to find Maria. It was early (6:13 AM) but he somehow doubted she was sleeping. This time Maria was in her normal office, still on her laptop. A steaming cup of coffee was in front of her. She didn't look surprised when Steve came in, but then she rarely looked surprised. "Captain, good morning. Why are you here?"

Steve hesitated. Why was he here? He couldn't say he was like a little boy who got scared of a nightmare, and decided to run to the closest thing he had to a friend. And he really had no reason to be here. "Um, do you happen to have any- uh, coffee?" Maria lifted an eyebrow at him. "Captain, we have a fully stocked cafeteria where you can get that. Is that really why you are here?"  
Steve stuck to his lie. "Yeah, I'm... Too tired to walk to the cafeteria. Do you have any?"

Maria just stared at him. Then, she sighed irritably as she closed her laptop. There's some in the other room. Just a minute. She left, leaving Steve alone. He felt stupid now, Maria was a very busy woman. She didn't have time for this, for him. She didn't have the right mindset for friendship. So why did he come here? Why did he keep tying to connect with her? She came back in, set down a styrofoam cup in front of him. She hesitated, and then dumped a handful of various sugars and creamers besides the cup.

"I wasn't sure how you like your coffee, so I thought if you wanted sugar or something you could add it." Steve was a bit surprised she had thought to do this, it was uncharacteristically considerate. "Oh, thanks. I actually a couple sugars and the cinnamon creamer- so thank you. I appreciate it."

Steve said this sincerely, Maria have him a look he couldn't explain. Almost like she wasn't used to people thanking her for things. She shook her head a bit though and went back to her laptop. "It's nothing. I have contacted the rest of the Avengers, they should be here today. Stark, probably this morning. We are hoping he and Banner can help us pinpoint Barton's location. The surgeon for Romanoff arrives tomorrow, so now we just have to wait. And so, they sat together in the office. Waiting.  
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FOOLED YOU! Hopefully... So to recap, Natasha is not dead, that was a dream, and I lied. I actually have ideas for like eight other chapters :D I just really wanted to try and trick you guys! Did it work? Hope it did! Sorry this is kind of short. Next one will be longer! PLEASE REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7

You GUYS! You were so AWESOME in the reviews for the last chapter! They made me so so so happy! My family doesn't know I write fanfiction, and the day I posted the chapter, I kept getting the reviews on my phone when I was around them. And I would get this huge stupid grin on my face, and they would be like, "Whoa, what are YOU so happy about?" And I was all like, "ahahahaha NOTHING! NOTHING! I just like smiling, smiling is my favorite! :D :D :D" So THANK YOU! Keep it up! Promise I will not be fake killing anyone in this installment- Maybe! Oh and

RebeccaHindle- Black Widow is my favorite too! Believe it or not, before I began this story I was a bit lukewarm about Captain America. But he is SO fun to write, I now kind of love him too! Not as much as my precious "Widow" though!

Sandy-wmd. - Haha, yeah I felt kind of sorry for him after writing that, but I couldn't resist ;) Hopefully by the end of this story he won't be having "I killed my teammate nightmares" for a while! Or will he? CLIFFHANGER!

And guys, for real. It means so much that you were upset when I said I wouldn't continue this story for much longer Thank you!

Enough of my blabbering, on with the story!

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The air ship was flying- somewhere. Not aiming for any destination, just continuously moving, and everyone was on high alert. Because the Avengers were coming. It was very exciting for those who had never seen them before, nerve wracking for those had been present last time the team was together on one of these ships. When Agent Barton had  
gone rogue, and tried to kill everyone on the ship. You know, right before aliens came down and killed everyone they could in NYC. No one knew about Agents Romanoff and Barton being individually compromised, no one knew why the team was coming together. But it was all that anyone was talking about.

Rumors were spreading like wildfire- A new superhero was being inducted in the team, an atomic bomb was threatening to destroy the planet, Shield was firing the team, Shield was firing all the agents to replace them with superheroes. Bigfoot was found and they want Thor to communicate with him, Atlantis was discovered only everyone living there wanted to kill earth. They found Superman and wanted him to join the team, the Avengers were going into outer space. So yes, the rumor mill was having quite a busy day. Only a couple dozen people actually knew the truth, almost all of them knew if they did tell the truth they wouldn't be believed anyway. Why should the mighty Avengers assemble, just because of two agents? Just so that in case one died, the other could say goodbye? Besides, it was much more fun to speculate that the team was assembling to star in a new reality TV show.

Of course, Thor was the first one to arrive. When all you need is a hammer to fly, travel is really quite easy. He was even faster than Tony in the sky- In spite of all his inventions Tony just couldn't match the magical speed. The sky was perfectly clear one minute, so when a thunderstorm materialized out of nowhere, everyone knew exactly who was coming. Thor arrived with surprisingly little fan fair, using his hammer to fly towards the ship. He simply landed on the roof, and knocked on the nearest door. Loudly. He didn't think that anyone could hear him, so he continued to knock louder and harder. It was purely accidental that he happened to break down the door. He still wasn't totally used to living in this realm, and would forget his own strength.

And it was an even bigger accident that two agents were walking towards the door when it flew off its hinges- at least Thor managed to catch them as they went flying out the door and off the air ship. Most everyone agreed it really could have been much worse than it was. At least the agents were huge Thor fans, they were just excited they got to meet him! Let alone be SAVED by him! How awesome! Still, it was decided the decks would be watched carefully until Stark arrived. They didn't need him burning a laser hole through the wall to enter, not that anyone would put it past him. He did like making a grand entrance.

Thor wanted to immediately see Lady Natasha, and was happy to hear his friend Steve was aboard the ship. He requested to see either of the two, but was refused. Instead a woman who felt like the luckiest agent on the ship, escorted Thor to the cafeteria. Having skipped breakfast with Jane and flown many hours through lunch, he was starving. He was eating through his third pizza and thirteenth "snack sized" bag of chips when Bruce arrived.

Luckily the aircraft was not too far from India, so the small plane picking Bruce up did not have a very long journey. A small crew manned the plane, everyone had had to volunteer for this pick up. The slight possibility of Bruce hulking out when on a confined flying plane was a rather large liability for Shield. Still, everything went smoothly. The flight was calm and once the staff got over their unease, they found Banner to be surprisingly nice! Except that when an agent asked for his autograph, he outright refused to give it. Quite bluntly. Nervous, no one asked for one after that.

Last time Bruce arrived at an air ship, he had almost no clue what was going on and did not even have anyone to greet his plane. THAT had been an unfortunate mistake! They thought he was arriving at a different deck, he just felt lucky he had not gotten- "upset" then. At least Steve and Natasha had found him then. This time he again had almost zero clue what was happening, but at least an agent greeted his plane.

He was a large burly man, something Bruce found grimly amusing. As if size and bulk could do anything against the hu- The Other Guy. Just look at one of the only people to ever escape his counterpart unharmed. That would be Natasha. She was slight and small, and most importantly fast. He hated to think what could have happened if anyone else had been trapped with him during that unfortunate experience. It was horribly lucky it had been her.

The Agent was all business, Bruce tried to be friendly but was bluntly ignored. He asked, "So, do you enjoy this job? Must be pretty interesting!" The man had not even glanced at him. "That is confidential. Follow me please." So, irritated, Bruce silently followed him through empty rooms and hidden hallways. He was deposited in a very nice laboratory, given a file to read. Within minutes Bruce had processed the information and begun tracking Barton's location.

As for Tony- well, he was utterly Tony. He refused to tell Shield at what time he would be arriving, also declining an exact location of the Ship. He mentioned something about testing out a new tracking system, and only asked for the number of the ship. Maria was extremely irritated at the entire situation, and ordered that small planes circle the ships perimeter so they could pick up Stark when he inevitably got lost.

So why didn't they see him? He was supposed to be here hours ago, but no one had seen him yet. They had tried calling him, he refused to answer. Or if he did, pretended to be his own Answering Machine. It was really extremely annoying. Especially once he started making up naughty songs about why he couldn't answer. It was getting late, some if the agents were getting nervous. What if something happened to the mighty Iron Man? Why wouldn't he answer the phone?

One newbie agent was not too worried about Stark. Not because she knew anything, because she simply didn't care. She was extremely efficient, and (like Agent Hill not all that long ago) thought the nonsense of a "superhero" team was a waste of time. She could care less about why the team was assembling, she just wished they could assemble quickly so they could leave.

She was working hard, and went to her office. A small room, with no decorations. Just walls of file cabinets. She walked in, sat at her desk. Wait- she didn't leave that file out. Why wasn't this drawer locked? Had someone- had someone been snooping in her office?

"Hey, how are you doing." The agent looked up and screamed. Tony Starks face was floating in midair in front of her. No body, no head, just a face. She screamed again. He spoke. "Hey! Hey! Calm down woman. Yeah, it's me. I understand you must be excited- I mean how many people have THE Tony Stark in their offi-"  
The poor woman found her voice. "What the HELL! What the HELL are you DOING in my OFFICE?" Why are you a HEAD? WHERE IS YOUR BODY?"

Tony frowned. "Hey, my body is right here! I'm not some kind of freak who can just detach my head you know... See, this is a new suit and I'm still trying to work the bugs out. It's stealth mode, you know? It can go invisible and I can be invisible to anything trying to detect me. I got the idea from a, close friend. Unfortunately I stupidly added a feature that-" The Agent was losing patience. "Get to the point!" He quickly continued. "I have a lockdown mode on the suit, so if needed I won't move or be found. Clearly it went haywire. And so I have been invisible and unable to use internet or call anyone- I'm stuck. You have a really isolated office, no one even heard me yelling! If you hadn't come in I don't kn-"

The agent interrupted again. "WHY were you in my OFFICE!" They both knew the answer, Stark was famous for snooping in every personal place he shouldn't. Especially at Shield. Still, Tony didn't answer- Instead he smirked and asked, "Hey, babe, do you know if Banner is on the ship? I kind of need help getting out of this thing. Tell him to bring a laptop, and a crowbar."  
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Steve was still in Maria's office, he had been for the entire day. He thought it would be awkward, and was surprised when it wasn't. After his nightmare he was too scared to spend the day in the room adjoining Natasha's. Scared his dream might come true. Neither was he in the mood to be anywhere other agents could crowd around him. Fawning over him, asking for autographs, asking mundane questions- He just couldn't do that.

Actually he probably would have stayed in the hospital room anyway, except a doctor came every hour or so to give them updates on Romanoff's condition. He had not known Maria requested these updates, it touched him that she cared enough to ask for them.

Maria worked all day, arranging the travels of the Avengers and, well, usually doing busy work to distract herself. Natasha was in the same condition. Stably unstable. She hated to think of it and whenever she stopped working her limited imagination would conjure up dozens of horrible scenarios. So she did her best to stay busy and immerse herself in files and paperwork.

Meanwhile, Steve drew. He started with a few small doodles, as he got more and more into it though more and more drawings began creeping over Maria's desk. At first she was a bit annoyed, wanted to ask Steve to go back to his room. Then she began seeing his drawings, and better yet watched him draw them. She would never admit it and never let Steve know, but soon she was actually enjoying watching him. No one had ever drawn anything before her eyes like this. It was almost like she could pretend he was drawing for her.

But that was stupid to think of. Wasn't it? A few times Maria had to tell herself to quit watching Steve, and get back to work. She told herself she wasn't watching him, she was watching him draw. And that was totally different. Totally.

Finally, she received a message that confirmed the final Avenger had arrived- had been found to be more specific. Maria couldn't help but wonder how long Stark had been here. She just hoped that he hadn't been able to do much snooping before his suit went into lockdown mode. She should tell Steve his team had arrived- but she wanted to see him finish this drawing first.  
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I hope you like this! I thought of so many things Steve could be drawing in the last paragraph, but it seems nicer to let you all imagine what he is drawing ;) I really hope you are still enjoying this story! I accept suggestions, ideas, story's you want me to write (I have a list of all ideas suggested to me, I am not forgetting you guys!) and even criticisms. Please review! Turns out Marvel fans are waaaaaaaaay nicer than Frozen fans ;) At least when it comes to reviews, hahaha!


	8. Chapter 8

Hi guys! So I have been sick for I think almost a week now. It has been in a word, awful. But I am now cohesive and mobile again! So yay health! The only problem is, that with the exception of updating a Frozen story (And I had almost finished the chapter before illness anyway) I have not written anything in a week. That may not sound too bad, but I am feeling rusty! Like anything I am writing for this story that I love so much, isn't feeling good enough for it. Do you guys have any preferences for what will happen? Any ideas? I just love this story so much, and don't want to ruin it by sloppy writing. Oh great now I feel bad about not updating when writing this. Fine! I will write a short Drabble that is from the story, but not really essential to it. Ah-ha! Ok got it. This will be interesting for you, and easy for me ;) But seriously, I am getting intimidated by writing the Avengers ALL IN THE SAME ROOM! And then writing ACTION scenes? That will be a first in my fanfiction. So I could really use advice on what you want to happen when Steve sees his team for the first time since injuring Natasha... Here is the Drabble I guilted myself into writing...

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Maria was alone in her office, Steve had left almost half an hour ago. So why did her eyes keep flicking up to the chair where he had been sitting? To the piece of paper, with a half finished drawing on it? Instead of focusing on her work, Maria kept staring at things like the yellow pencil resting besides the small pile of drawings. The lead tip was dulled, and a small crack ran through the wooden point. So did that mean he preferred working with pencil? Did Steve ever use paint, or ink, pastels? Wasn't that an art form? Maybe. She didn't know... It wasn't like knowledge of art supplies was part of her resume.

She was wasting time. This was idiotic. She didn't care about art or drawing! It was nice enough, but she certainly didn't have time for it. She used to, but that was years and years- and years, and years and years ago. Basically a really long time. She took an art class in high school, she'd almost forgotten about that until now. It wasn't THAT long ago, but- well, she didn't like to dwell much on her child/teenage hood. She had so few good memories from those years.

Now truly irritated, Maria snapped her head back to the computer. For almost ten minutes her only thoughts were about soldiers, missions, files, surplus and ammunition. Just like they should be. Then she grabbed for a file, and somehow made the pile of drawings slide off the desk. They gracefully floated down to the ground, as Maria closed her eyes and let her breathe whoosh out in sheer irritation. Just when she was getting in a work groove, something had to distract her. It would be rude to leave the drawings on the ground, she may as well pick them up.

Moving to the ground, Maria glanced at her close door. It would be so embarrassing if anyone walked in and saw her, a prominent officer of Shield, kneeling on the ground like some kind of a maid. She'd never live it down if anyone came in. Moving quickly, she gathered up the papers. They had not fallen very far off the desk, so how had they gotten everywhere? Still trying to be businesslike, she didn't look at any of the drawings. She just so happened to glance at one.

She was not one to have outbursts of positive emotion, especially now with the lives of Romanoff and Barton weighing so heavily on her. But a slim smile actually appeared on her face when her eyes landed on this doodle- It was a caricature of Stark, wearing an extremely over exaggerated version of his suit. Too big for him, with a dozen different objects sticking out of it. Such as bottles of alcohol, a bobble head of Pepper Pots, a few weapons etc. It really wasn't all that funny, but Maria was stressed out. Besides she had little fondness for Stark, anything mocking him could amuse her. Plus Steve had drawn him as a little man with nothing but a big suit of armor to protect him. That was kind of funny. Without thinking, Maria began looking through the rest of the drawings.

A surprising number were of nature or animals. A family of monkeys, a horse bucking someone off, dragons flying, a waterfall and brook in the forest, snow falling through sky. Steve grew up in a smoggy city, it did make sense he would have learned to draw places he wished he could be and creatures he'd like to meet outside of the Brooklyn Zoo. One drawing covered two pages and was a circus parade, filled with beautiful horses, tumbling clowns, elephants with riders, the whole thing was so intricate that Maria was lost in the details for moments.

She had not realized how much Steve had drawn, she hadn't kept track of time. How long had they been here? No, um that sounded wrong for some reason. How long had she been in here working and how long had he happened to be in the same room when drawing? That was better. Some pages had only a few random strokes on them, a half drawn flower, a face she couldn't recognize because it was unfinished. Many more drawings were complete though. His favorites seemed to be from scenes of classical books. Some typical like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, the troupe of creatures walking down the yellow brick road, flying monkeys hovering above them. Others she recognized from books like Gone With the Wind, or Grapes of Wrath. She hadn't known that Steve liked reading. Apparently they had something in common besides being soldiers.

If she was the kind of person who could be self indulgent of her own likes she probably could have gotten lost in the drawings for a long time. But she wasn't, she was Maria Hill and she didn't have time for her own wants or needs. So she regretfully tore herself away and gathered the drawings together. They made a sizable stack, she placed them on her desk. Sat down. Started working, and stopped. She rarely allowed herself to look at things like art, hated indulging herself. Maybe she could later though? At least waste time not during work hours? Maria picked up the drawings, and neatly placed them in a desk drawer.  
If she had to look at them, she would just do it during her personal hours.  
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So for this chapter I finally looked up the backstory of Maria Hill- And GREAT! Now I have ANOTHER character to really like and kiiiind of obsess over! Why do I even...

Anyway, I may still be a bit loopy from cold medicine. Please review! I need your suggestions! Next update will be looooooong!


	9. Chapter 9

Hi, yeah! Remember this story? It was kind of almost popular before I fell off the (Avengers part) of the internet and did not update? Turns out it is HARD writing all the Avengers together! But here is a new chapter! I have a super good idea for the next chapter, so just remember that, if you hate this one ;)  
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The Avengers were together again- well, the majority of them were at least. Except one was captured, another maybe dying, and the third was just late. Steve wasn't here yet, a fact that annoyed Tony to no end.

"See, just another reason why it makes sense to always be fashionably late." Stark huffed, slumped in his chair pouting. "Not only can you make a statement of how much more you value your own time, but you don't have to wait for idiots who call a meeting and then don't show up for hours!" Bruce was sitting across from Tony, looking at something on his phone. He didn't even look up when he spoke. "Really Tony? Steve is hardly hours late. He scheduled the meeting for one thirty, it is now one forty two. He's probably preparing a presentation or something, maybe he had to clear this meeting with one of the higher ups. He'll be here soon."

Tony opened his mouth, probably to shoot off some off colored remark, but Thor interrupted. "The Captain is a man of loyalty and honor, if he is late he surely must have a worthy reason. Let us wait a short while longer, and if he does not arrive perhaps we can go in search of him?" This sounded like a good enough idea to the science bros, and so the room was quiet.

Tony was still fuming over the embarrassment of being caught snooping. Damn that Jarvis! He should have warned him the suit wasn't ready! Wait, actually he might have done that anyway. But darn it, he could have done something! At least helped him unfreeze the suit! Wait, the speakers and internet must have been jammed too. Why? What had he done wrong, how could he fix it? Soon Tony was lost in his mind, planning how to make his latest toy even better. Bruce was still on his phone, trying to track Clint and wishing he was back in the lab. He was a genius, but even a genius can do only so much with a cell phone when they are trying to pinpoint someone's exact location. Thor meanwhile, sat in his chair. If only he had brought one of the books Jane had introduced him too, or at least something to eat. He wished the other teammates would speak to him, and was more than glad when Steve arrived.

He didn't look like the Captain America they were used to. They had never seen him without his uniform on, at least not in this century. Definitely not outside of decades old photos. And although seeing Steve in jeans and a t-shirt was not half as freaky as seeing Thor in the same attire, it was still extremely odd.

Tony greeted him, "Hey Capsicle, what did you raid a Gap? Nice threads!" Steve frowned, clearly it was too much to hope that Stark could ever be serious, even under awful circumstances. Just one more reason why the man rubbed him the wrong way. He pulled up a chair, and sat down. He made a point of not sitting at the head of the table, he just knew Stark would make a barb at him if he did, something about how just because he was called "Captain" didn't make him team leader.

Thor was smiling broadly, he reached over and shook Steve's hand enthusiastically. "Captain Steve! It is a pleasure to see you again, even though I regret it is due to an unfortunate situation. Still, words can not express how pleased I am to be reunited with all of you." Thor's smile shrank somewhat as he added, "though of course, we are not all here. But do not fear, I am confident that with us fighting together, we can reunite the rest of our team!"

Enthused by his own speech, Thor stood up and clapped Steve (lightly, by Asgard standards) on the back. The Captain still had the breathe knocked out of him, and was speechless for a few seconds. Gasping for oxygen, he feebly patted Thor's arm, and sank into his chair. Tony rolled his eyes, for a super soldier this guy could be such a pansy. When Steve could breathe again, he greeted Banner. "Bruce, how are you? I am glad you could make it."

Compulsively working on his phone, Banners eyes flitted away from the screen for a second, muttered something that might have been a greeting. Then he was again sucked into his work. Tony considered taking out his own tech candy, the last thing he wanted was to hear Steve drone on for hours. But he WAS anxious to hear about Natasha, and even he had a limit on his utter rudeness. Especially after living with Pepper for a few years. Anyway Bruce was working on his phone, while Tony would have no excuse to take his out and start playing Angry Birds.

Once Steve could breathe normally again, he gathered his thoughts and started explaining the situation . He was blunt, and to the point. He didn't dance around the truth, and admitted that he felt responsible for Natasha's injuries. He painted himself in a negative, self decrepitating light. None of the other Avengers fully believed him. Of course they saw he might have been somewhat responsible for their teammates injury, but what could he have done? None of them believed Steve had been as careless and idiotic as he had convinced himself he was.

Never a fan of pity me, all my fault, I injured someone and maybe killed them stories, Tony changed the subject. "Ok ok, so Spidey isn't doing well, and needs to have the surgery. If it succeeds she should be fine, if not she'll, well- die... What's the deal with bird man?" Steve opened his mouth, but Bruce was the one who spoke. "Well I have marked off quite a few places he might be, I can definitely say he is not in Africa, Antarctica, or Canada. I also don't think he's in Aisa. Just because he was last heard from there, doesn't mean he wasn't apprehended and then moved somewhere else. I need some time to prove it, but I doubt he's there."

Steve's eyebrows lifted. "Really? Ok, well that's interesting. How long do you think it will be before you can locate him? Any guess?" Banner shrugged, "Sorry... I could find him in the next hour, or it could be a couple weeks. But with Shields technology I think it should be within the next day or two." The team was silent for a minute at this. From the sound of it Natasha might not have even two days left. Tony spoke up, uncharacteristically serious. "So I guess one of the real questions is if she should have the operation as soon as possible, or if we should wait a bit in case we can find Clint. It sounds like she is hanging on now, but if that surgery goes wrong- We all know what could happen."

Banner spoke. "Personally, I think that she should have the surgery as soon as the doctor arrives. This sounds harsh but she isn't even awake now. Clint wouldn't get any comfort except from seeing her one last time- As a doctor I don't think that is worth postponing a serious operation for. If we wait it could cause complications." The team thought about this, and Steve said, "Ok then, I'll tell Mari- uh, Agent Hill that we want them to operate as soon as possible. I'll show you guys where Natasha is so you can... See her if you want." The underlying message was clear. So you can say goodbye.  
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Guys, I need help. I don't think I can write Clint being rescued from Asia! Where could he be saved from? Who has him and why? Please help out a writer? Sorry this update took soooooo long, I hate writers block :( Plus I kind of became obsessed with Frozen Fanfiction and maybe wrote like ten stories for it... But I am back now! Updates will be far more frequent! PLEASE review!


	10. Chapter 10

Hi people! So I know that last chapter, how do I put this? Kind of stank. It wasn't my best writing, and if I did not need it for the story to make sense, I would just delete it. Also,I am getting confused with the plot of my own story, and just in case you are too I am clarifying the surgery thing. Natasha was injured, and has internal injuries including some kind of fracture or break in her spine. She is declining rather quickly, but she is not quite right on deaths door. Though she does need the operation, and if the dangerous surgery goes wrong then she will definitely die right away. So the Avengers are going to take a chance and have her operated on as soon as the special doctors arrive (end of this chapter). This is the longest story I have ever written, and I was confusing myself with contradicting chapters... And so now the goal is to find Clint so if possible he could get here before the surgeon, and see Natasha. But if the doctor arrives first, they will need Clint for whatever happens after the surgery. Wether that is a death, or recovery who know! Bwahahaha! Still not sure where Clint is, but so grateful for your suggestions! Leaning towards one idea though. No spoilers yet!

darkraistlyn- I would totally make Hawkeye be in Budapest, except I refuse to believe anything ever DID happen in Budapest! You should check out my other Avenger story, "What was Budapest?" Though I should say it was only my second story, and is not as good as this one :) I like it though! I plan on rewriting it when I don't already have seven stories in the works...

And thank you everyone for your suggestions and reviews!

Anywho, enjoy this better chapter!  
I am maybe dragging this out a bit. Let me know if this story should just END ALREADY!  
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Banner was back in the lab, working hard at the computers. He had narrowed down roughly three fifths of the world where Clint was NOT. Asia was one of those places, so their only lead was gone. It was four in the morning, and Bruce was so tired he couldn't remember if he had stayed up through the night, or woken up stupidly early. Coffee. Coffee had to help. He sleepily walked across the room, and punched orders into a coffee maker. He stared sleepily at the machine, waiting for the caffeinated liquid to collect in the mug. He was so. Tired. But he just had to find Clint, he owed Natasha, anything he could do for her he would.

Bruce had nightmares almost every night, but they were rarely recurring. Just vague memories of the horrors the other guy had committed, and possibilities of what he could do if Bruce ever really lost control. Even after New York, he was terrified about what could happen if The Hulk took over. And since then, he had earned a nightmare that came at least once a week. The room exploding. Falling. Searing pain as his head hit the ground, something being shaken loose inside of him- Something he couldn't put back in place. And Natasha trapped besides him as the Hulk began escaping. She couldn't move, and she was only trying to help him. And because she wanted to help, he had wanted to kill her. That was his nightmare. Only in the dream... When he was chasing her... She didn't escape him.

Beeping from the coffee maker startled Bruce from his thoughts, without thinking he grabbed the steaming mug and gulped down a mouthful. "Gah, argh, unnnn" he moaned, trying to handle his burning throbbing mouth without getting angry. He shut his eyes, tried to clear his mind. An image of Natasha running from the "other guy" entered his thoughts instead. Banner calmed down oddly enough, remembering her fear reaffirmed his desire to never make anyone feel like that again.

Work always helped distract him when he felt at all angry, or guilty. Now sipping at his coffee, Bruce returned to his computer. He was determined to find Clint before the surgeon arrived for Natasha's operation.  
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Meanwhile, Tony was in another lab, trying to fix the lockdown of his suit. He and Bruce had started off sharing a work space, they quickly learned it was best if they only worked together when they were actually working on a project together. If they each had different projects going on, Tony got all into Bruce's space, Tony kept telling Banner how he should be working, they basically got on one another's nerves. Tony eventually kicked himself out, and wandered around until he found a lab that suited his needs. So what if he had to dodge a few guards, pick a few locks and override a security system? All that mattered was that he was comfortable when working on his suit!

He had been in here as long as Banner had been in his own lab, but he was able to handle the lack of sleep far better. He had cured the permanent lock mode the suit entered- by removing that entire feature from the program. He would tinker with that another time, and put it in his next suit. With a mission coming up he didn't need any problems when in the field.

Tony felt good about this suit, finally most of the bugs were worked out, and he would have to let Pepper know that he finally fixed the- Oh crap Pepper. He had forgotten to tell her he was even coming to shield, thinking this would be a quick thing- and she arrived home tonight. No, scratch that, last night. This was really not good. He was going to be in so much trouble.

"Jarvis!" He ordered, speaking to the laptop that he had hooked up for his virtual friend. "I need you to check my phone and email and see if I have any messages from Pepper... And you better have a florists number prepared." Stark held his breathe waiting for the answer, and though he dreaded it he was not at all surprised by it. "Sir, you have seventy three emails, one hundred and thirty five missed calls, not to mention three hundred and fourteen text messages. Would you like for me to read them?"

Tony groaned, this was not good... Pepper must be so mad and worried. He was lucky if she hadn't called the cops out to look for him. "Jarvis! Please order the biggest bouquet of flowers that you can find around home, and compose an Email for Pepper." Tony drummed his fingers against the table, trying to think of what could be said.

"Ok, write this down. "Pep, Hi! I am alive, and not kidnapped harmed etc etc. I know I am in huge trouble with you, I should have called you or left a note. I am flying over an ocean somewhere, on a quick job for Shield. I did not think it would take this long, they gave the impression that I would be done by now. Nothing serious is happening over here, Legolas has been captured and we have to find him. Red had also been injured on a mission, she isn't doing well. No love is lost between you two, but I'll keep you updated on her condition. I miss you Babe, hope you don't kill me when I get back... I love you, I'll be back soon."

Tony was quiet as Jarvis typed this up, the email was sent and the lab silent. Tony was missing Pepper a lot, he hadn't seen her in almost a week. It sometimes stunk being in love when both people in the relationship have to travel away from each other so much. He was really missing his girlfriend though it was far from the first time they had been apart. All of this stuff with Clint and Natasha was probably just making him more grateful that Pepper was safe and healthy.

Not for the first time, Tony wondered what the relationship was between the two agents. He had asked a couple times before, and was told that if he wished to keep all the pieces of his body, he shouldn't ask again. Were they a thing? Just friends? Woah, what if they were married? That would be too crazy a thing to keep hidden. It didn't matter why the two were so close, Tony just wanted to help them. If anything then just because if something like this happened between him and Pepper, he had to hope the team would do just as much to help him as they were doing for Clint and Tasha.

Suddenly very tired, Stark ordered Jarvis to shut down the shop. He was going to go see if Banner needed any help.  
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Meanwhile, Steve was back in the waiting area adjoining Natasha's hospital room. He had decided it was stupid to avoid the place just because of a stupid bad dream. Besides, when he asked to spend the night in Maria's office (did the woman ever sleep? She was like a working machine.") she had refused. Saying she was sorry, but she had to focus on some important work. Why did Steve care about this? Had she actually hurt his feelings? He didn't want to think about this right now.

Natasha looked totally unchanged, the only difference in the room was the lack of medical personnel. Just a couple nurses monitoring her, and one unlucky doctor who was present in case anything went suddenly wrong. Someone had brought a couch into the waiting area, so Steve didn't have to stand anymore. He wondered who was responsible for the new piece of furniture, though he had a pretty good guess. Not that Hill would ever admit to placing it if he thanked her for the place to sit.

Steve had come here soon after meeting with the rest of his team, after being kicked out by Maria he found his way to this room. He hadn't slept well for what felt like days, and was utterly exhausted. But he was too scared to sleep. If he slept he would have another nightmare. Maybe if he gave in to sleep, when he woke up Natasha would be dead. Maybe... Maybe...

The next thing Steve knew, he was laying on the couch and someone was shaking him. "Captain! Captain! Wake up... Steve. Steve! Wake up already!" Startled out of sleep by whoever was roughly shaking him, Steve sat up and exclaimed, "Aaargh, gosh, what is it? What's wrong, what happened?" Still half asleep, he assumed it was an emergency. Then he realized someone was grabbing his hand, and wasn't releasing it. "Steve, " Maria Hill said. For once sounding like a human instead of a soldier. "Stark and Banner found Barton, they located him! Come on. They want to wait till everyone is present, Stark went to get Thor, I have to bring you."

Steve was sitting up now, and as Maria finished talking there was a slightly awkward pause. His eyes flitted down to her hand wrapped around his own, Maria let go. She backed away, the excitement on her face was completing gone. She cleared her throat. "Well then. Come on, everyone is waiting for us. For you. They are waiting for you, I just volunteered to come get you. I mean, I was asked to. Come on." Embarrassed, Maria turned away and walked out the door. Still feeling drowsy, and extremely confused, Steve followed her. They were halfway down the hall when a rush of thrill and excitement rushed through him. We found him! We can get him back in time! Finally something was going right.

Let's end it here! Next chapter I finally tell you where Clint is! And if you want the team will say by to Natasha, and then off they go! Last chance to suggest your ideas to me ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Hello!

So, let's find out where the heck Clint is! Thank you everyone for the suggestions! One in particular, helped me SO much, and once I delve into using that suggestion, I will thank the reviewer ;) For now, thanks to all who suggested places Clint could be! Several people suggested the final idea, thanks to all of you! I always love

TheLoneSurvivor- Thank you for enjoying my story! Ugh, I also hate when people don't update. And until like a week ago I was being very lazy when I got sucked into another fandom, but now I am back into this one! I promise I will not abandon it any time soon :):):)

Blonde4ever- Wow, thank you for the praise! I am flattered! I wish I could continue this story forever, but I can promise it should have something like six other chapters :):):)

And to everyone else, thank you for the reviews! They encourage me to update faster ;) And if anyone ever wants to PM me, please do! I love "meeting" fan fiction people! Because you guys know you are all awesome ;)

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Tony and Bruce were now wide awake, Bruce because he was on the adrenaline high of finding Clint. Tony probably because he was continuously drinking from a large mug of coffee. He was pacing excitedly around the room, randomly picking up objects, tinkering with things he shouldn't be touching, and repeatedly wondering out loud where the rest of the team was.

Thor entered the room, hair tousled from sleep. Though he had obviously been sleeping, he looked a hundred percent awake and ready for anything. "Tony, Bruce, what news do you have for us? Good I hope!" Bruce started to speak, but Stark interrupted. "Nooooope! Nuh-uh! I don't repeat myself. Ever. Let's just wait for Captain Lazy, and get this over with so I can go to bed." Tony was usually fine with staying up late, but he hadn't really slept since he got the call from Shield. He was exhausted, and kept pacing around, hoping the movement would keep him awake. He poured himself another mug of coffee. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion as he complained. "Oh gosh, I told that woman to get Capsicle ages ago! How incompetent can you get? She is the weirdest, freakiest, coldest- Ugh. When I see her I'm going too-"

"You don't want to finish that sentence Stark. Trust me." Steve said as he walked into the room with Maria Hill. Her mouth was already open to defend herself, and when Steve spoke up for her, her cheeks flushed. A scowl covered her face, and slightly embarrassed, she turned away from the team. Steve didn't notice, intent on receiving the news. "Well? Did you find him? What can you tell me? Hurry! Let's get this over with!"

Tony rolled his eyes, muttered to Thor, "Wow, and I thought he was the polite one."The demigod chuckled politely, not fully understanding if this was a joke or not. Bruce closed a laptop, and gathered some papers from the printer. "Ok, as everyone knows, at first we thought Barton was in Asia. That's where he last checked in with Agent Hill, and where his target was located."

Bruce started handing out the papers to his team, each person got an extensively marked map. He handed the last map to Thor, and awkwardly turned to Maria. "Um... Sorry, I, didn't know you would be staying for the meeting. Sorry! Just, give me a minute, I just have to pull up the file again- Oh I didn't save it. Let me find the map, mark it again, then-" As Tony groaned in exhausted irritation, Steve spoke. "She can just share mine, I don't mind." Realizing he might have overstepped his boundaries, he turned to Hill. "That is, if you don't mind?" She shook her head, spoke just a bit too quickly. "It's fine. Thank you, I don't mind. Let's just continue." Steve let her hold the paper, and they stood besides each other. Maria felt uneasy, because why did she feel so uncomfortable standing besides this man? This was a business meeting. She shouldn't even be thinking of who she was standing next to.

Bruce continued. "So, Clint has a tracking device in his arm. It's Shield protocol ever since the, well, New York Incident. If we could have found him sooner then, well the battle might never have happened. And I was able to track his progress for a few hundred miles, when the signal went dead. This could be because he entered a spotty area, or possibly someone removed and destroyed the device. Though I have no idea how they would have found it. Now, if you look at this map...-"

The next half hour was extremely informative, and at any other time the team would probably have been attentive. If it wasn't five forty in the morning. Tony just kept guzzling coffee, trying to stay conscious. Thor wasn't tired, but did not understand half of the things Bruce was talking about. Steve was inpatient for Banner to just get to the point, and Maria- Well, she was busy feeling confused. Bruce was in full on lecture mode, glasses on top of his head, sleeves rolled up. By the time he was discussing wind patterns and tracking traffic patterns, everyone had reached the end of their patience. For once Tonys tactlessness came in handy.

"Bruce! This is a meeting, not a freaking classroom! It is five! In! The MORNING! I haven't slept in TWENTY FOUR HOURS! Get to the POINT man!" Stark groaned, head in his hands. Startled from his speech, Bruce looked sheepishly around and then back down at his papers. "Oh, yes, sorry... Due to the evidence I have here, I think Clint is in Alaska."

Looking at the pattern on the map, Maria nodded. "Ok, but why would he be there? We don't have any tracked groups we are watching there. Do you think something new is rising?" Tony shrugged, and spoke up. "That's always a possibility, Shield monitors potential threats, but one could always slip through the net." Agent Hill furrowed her brow, staring at the map. The dot where Barton was presumed to be was isolated, and surrounded by mountains. This might be a difficult mission to plan. "Ok. I am going to go start figuring this out, make some calls, and see what I can do to help. If all goes well, I imagine you should be leaving some time later today." She turned to Steve. "Um, may I take this?"She tugged lightly on the map, half of it was still in his hands. He let go instantly, "Oh, of course. Here!" Maria nodded a thank you, and was gone.

The team stood in the room, unsure of what to do next. Steve spoke, again becoming the leader without even realizing. "Let's get some sleep. We need to be well rested, and ready for whatever might happen today. And, well, if you want... Before we leave- Natasha is in Ward Three. If anyone wants to visit her."

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The entire Avenger team could have easily fit in the viewing room, said goodbye to Natasha together. Instead individually the members filtered into the room throughout the day. They respected each other enough to give the others privacy for their goodbyes. Thor was the first to see her, he was used to visiting the bedsides of friends who had fallen in battle. Still, he felt a bit uneasy at the thought of seeing Lady Natasha unconscious and in the care of healers. He always thought of her as strong and untouchable, he was not eager to have this thought marred. Still he soon found himself asking a random agent to lead him to his friend.

He purposely asked a male agent, growing tired of the gushing, over excited women asking if he wished to have a drink with them, and giggling every time he spoke. Most of the time the women dispersed when he mentioned Jane, but those who did not leave were more obnoxious once his love was mentioned. One even implied he was lying about having a girlfriend, and that she was free any time for a date. He hoped that this man helping him would keep silent, and not ask any questions. Sadly, Thor chose poorly.

The next ten minutes were, in a word, annoyingly awful. First the man gushed over the demigod. Exclaiming over his huge size, jokingly asking where his armor was, and asking if his hair was naturally blonde. Whatever that meant. But then, things went from irritating to horrible. The agent had been discussing the fight in NYC, going on and on about the details of Thor's fighting style. Then he started talking about Loki.

Hardly anyone knew of Loki's death, just a few people in Shield. Actually only Maria Hill and Nick Fury, and Thor had requested they not tell anyone. So this small little agent was bad talking Thor's brother, calling him a monster, inquiring about the punishment he was receiving on Asgard. Saying how because of Loki, one of Americas greatest cities would never be the same. Half of Thor wanted to murder this man, and the other half wanted to fall to his knees in mourning. He missed Loki.

By the time they arrived at the door that would lead Thor to Natasha, he couldn't even look at the agent who had led him here. If he did, he just knew he'd do something he regretted. So Thor walked through the door without saying goodbye, and the Agent scurried off to brag to everyone about how now he was totally best friends with the mighty Thor. There was a hallway once Thor passed through the door, but he knew where he had to go now. Lady Hill had told him. First though, he paused here to gather his emotions.

He knew Loki had cast a great hurt upon this realm, and of course maybe his brother had been somewhat evil. But he still was, would always be, his brother. And Thor missed him deeply. It had hurt so much losing Loki the first time, this second loss was even fiercer though. He had been given a chance to have his brother back again, and Thor felt that he had failed. He could have reasoned with Loki when they met again, stopped him in New York maybe. He could have overpowered him sooner and prevented the Chituari invasion. He could have... Should have, visited him when Loki was a prisoner. Now it was too late though. He wished his brother had been a better person. But he also wished he could still be here.

Emotions now somewhat under control, Thor entered the viewing room to see Natasha. He was not used to the healing rooms here in this realm, he had only been inside of one other, when he first arrived on earth. And that experience had been far from pleasant. He stared into this one, hoping the healers- no wait, Jane had explained they were called doctors here. He hoped the doctors, were nicer in this place.

Being taller than Steve, Thor had a much better view of the fallen Avenger. Her wounds were clean and bandaged, her eyes closed as if she was sleeping. You almost would think she was sleeping. If not for the deeply pained and disturbed expression on her face. The demigod had never seen Lady Natasha so still, or so pale. A horrible random thought entered his mind, what would he do if Jane was in this situation? He shut his eyes and fought the urge to fly off to be at his loves side.

A thought occurred to him- Did Barton and Lady Natasha perhaps have feelings for one another? As more than friends? He wondered why this had never occurred to him before. Though he never had been very good at recognizing, or even understanding romance. Even if the two agents were not in love, Thor understood the deep bonds those who fought together could forge. And the pain of losing your fighting partner.

He moved closer to the glass, and spoke softly, "Natasha, I swear to you, I will do everything within my power to bring Barton to your side as soon as possible. You are one of the mightiest fighters I have met, in this or any other realm. And I know that you can defeat your injuries, and regain full health." Thor began to turn, then had a thought. He slowly turned back to the window. "And Natasha, I hope and believe that you will recover. But if you do not, and you pass on to the unknown, please find Loki. Tell him I am sorry for not helping him more. And that I miss him deeply.

With that, Thor left. Blinking away the burning in his eyes.  
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Bruce was the next visitor, and though as a trained doctor he was allowed into the actual hospital room, he preferred to say in the viewing area. He wouldn't admit it, but he felt safer this way. More removed from the situation. The glass wall was just one more barrier innocent people would be blocked by if he became the other guy- Though honestly the wall would be little more than tissue paper to him. Maybe he was also scared. He had years of experience in hospitals, but had never had to see a close... Could he call Natasha a friend? A close coworker? A close anyone, he supposed, injured and in a hospital setting. He was almost sure he wouldn't "overreact". But it was the "almosts" of his past that haunted him.

He viewed the room with a clinical eye, he was surprised by how removed he felt from everything. He had worried he would be upset by seeing Natasha injured, feel disturbed by needles running into her, and seeing her being covered in bandages. Instead he didn't even feel like he was seeing Natasha, just another patient. Bruce calmly read the machines he could see around her bed, and was glad to note how efficient the staff caring for her seemed.

Of course, Natasha really didn't seen like herself. She had a look on her face of pain. But something else too, something subtle. Few would recognize the expression of fear on her face, because who would think someone in a coma would look fearful? But Bruce recognized that look. He recognized it all too well. He dreamed of it far too often, a more pronounced version of that fear staring up at him, right before the hulk emerged. Why would someone in a coma be scared? Did she know she might be dying? That Clint wasn't at her side? Was she having a nightmare?

Bruce watched the room for almost an hour, monitoring the machines and making sure the doctors were doing their job. By the time he left, he was sure Natasha was in good hands. But he didn't feel much better.

Steve didn't go say goodbye to Natasha. Maybe he was superstitious, but he just felt like if he said goodbye he would be, well, saying goodbye. Forever. If he didn't say bye, maybe she wouldn't be allowed to die. And he could bring her Clint. It wasn't that Steve didn't care about bidding her farewell, he just felt scared. A doctor had reported to Maria and himself just a couple hours ago, that Natasha's decline was increasing. For some reason the surgeon had not yet arrived, people were starting to worry about him. Steve just didn't want to see his teammate even worse than she already had been last time he saw her. He didn't consider the raging guilt he would feel if Natasha did die, and he never said goodbye.

Instead he was sitting in Maria's office, helping plan the rescue mission of Barton. They had pinpointed his position to a mountain, and air footage sent back photographs of what could possibly be some kind of hidden base. Because it was in the mountains, sneaking in would be a problem. Not to mention they had almost no clue what they might find inside. This mission wouldn't be carefully planned and choreographed, anything could happen.

"You guys probably don't need much supplies, right?" Maria asked. "Obviously a first aid chest and rations will be on the air ship, but this shouldn't take long. You won't need much." Steve nodded, impatient for the planning to be finished so he could leave already. Piles of paper, and open books were smothering Agent Hills desk. After not enough hours of sleep, Steve had come here to help this morning. They had gotten clearance to go on the mission, arranged for an air ship, mapped out their route, it seemed everything was done! So why wasn't he leaving yet?

Maria stalled too. She was fighting herself, one part wanted to cooly dismiss Steve and go on with her work. The other part, was wondering how she would feel if he died. Wondering if she would regret not saying goodbye to him. She fumbled with words, and then said, "Be careful Cap. Can't afford to have anymore of you guys injured." Steve grimly smiled a bit, "Well, I'll do my best but I can't make any promises."

Suddenly Steve stood, accidentally knocking a file crammed with photographs and papers to the floor. "Ugh, sorry about that!" He apologized, both agents knelt on the floor attempting to gather everything back, still in the same order. Maria was very aware of how close he was to her, and when she looked up, he did too intending to ask a question. They made eye contact, and paused. They were not close enough to kiss, but just close enough to wonder if they would. Seconds stretched out, Maria was so confused, what was this? What was happening? A small shiver went through her, she hoped Steve wouldn't notice.

Steve had no idea what to do, he liked Maria, but could she possibly feel the same way about him? He opened his mouth to speak- When a voice came from a speaker in the room. "Agent Hill, we have an emergency in Ward three. Stark has broken into the hospital room with balloons and cupcakes, and he is playing rock and roll music from the speakers. He claims he is "Throwing Agent Romanoff a goodbye party? He's disrupting the medical staff- Please stop him. Please!"

The two parted, and stood. Steve spoke. "I'll go get him, you have a lot of work to do. And I should get him anyway, we have to go. Can you tell Thor and Bruce to meet us at the ship?" Maria's throat was closed, she just nodded. Choked out a goodbye, and sat back at her desk. Confusion swirled around her, hurt over why Steve didn't kiss her, horrified she would even want him to. Doubt over what she was feeling, and guilty she hadn't said a real goodbye.

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So, I ran out of internet on my phone for the month, and now have to scavenge for it in random place. So my updates might not be as frequent :( Hope you enjoyed this! Please review!


	12. Chapter 12

I cringed reading my last chapter -_- I was so happy to get that chapter up when I had some internet, that I forgot to proofread it -_- Oops! Sorry for misspelled words and a few awkward dangling sentances in it... Especially when I started to say, "I love" and instead of saying reviews, skipped to replying to comments. Awkward! Thanks for any and all story love, it really inspires me to write! Also, I only have 22 days to finish this story. Why? In twenty two days I head to China for a semester! When there I will be teaching English to kids, and doubt I will have time to write a load of fanfiction ;)So to make you all happy, I will just be updating a lot till then!  
/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(((/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/((/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/((/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(/(

Steve was not happy with Stark at all, to put it mildly. The team was on a plane to Alaska, and the two men were arguing. Again. Stark was sitting sullenly in his chair, listening to Captain America lecture him. "Natasha's in a COMA! Why on earth would you throw a person in a serious medical condition like that a party? You disrupted her medical staff, tied a balloon to her IV, and yelled at a nurse when she told you to leave! We were on a hellicarrier. Where on earth did you even get cupcakes? And balloons for that matter?" Steve was saying all this as if he was speaking to a very young child, Tony was running out of patience. "Listen "Spangley", I thought a party would cheer her up! Maybe she'd know that someone was doing something for her. How was I supposed to know the balloon would pull her IV out, or that one of the nurses was allergic to the coconut in the chocolate cupcakes? And it is NOT my fault if after eating one, she fainted on top of a monitor. I'm the victim here! I was trying to do something nice, and because of it everyone is attacking me." Before anyone could speak, Tony stood. "THIS is not a supportive environment, I'm out of here." He scowled as he walked to the other end of the plane, sat down and put his Iron Man Mask on. Probably to talk to Jarvis, or listen to rock and roll music without a medical team yelling at him.

Steve sighed, he still had more to say to Tony. But the team didn't need any more inner conflict- they already had far more of that than they should... Besides, before the team arrived at what could be Barton's location, he had some things to discuss with Bruce. So he moved to sit next to the scientist, and as an afterthought called for Thor to join him. He wasn't fully sure what to make of the demigod, he was something of a mystery to the team. How do you act around someone who is a prince, something like a god, and has a brother who almost destroyed New York City? But the Avengers were a team, so Steve had vowed to include Thor in more things. Bruce was typing away at a tablet, glasses perched on top of his head, the seat besides him was totally filled with papers, notebooks and files. Steve sat across from him, when Thor joined them, Bruce still hadn't noticed the two. He was so focused on his work, the plane probably could have started falling and he wouldn't notice.

Steve didn't want to alarm a man who could become the hulk, even though he did have a much better handle on it nowadays. He didn't want to poke him or anything- Unlike Stark, HE didn't have a death wish. He would have to plan a way to get his attention, it would have to be not too startling, nothing that could panic Bruce, if he just said his name would that startle the man too badly from his work? Maybe he could-" Thor suddenly leaned forward and said in his booming voice, "Banner! We have need of your knowledge!" Steve jumped violently in his seat, startled by Thor almost yelling next to his ear, and horrified by what Bruce might do next. The scientist also jumped a bit in his chair, and looked surprised, but after a few tense seconds, Steve saw he was not angry. He looked more annoyed.

Bruce closed his laptop, and frowning a bit, turned to the demigod. "Could you maybe not do that again Thor? I was working. And you kind of startled me, and I would rather not let- the other guy, out on a plane. That wouldn't be too good for anyone." Thor looked sheepish, and smiled as he spoke more quietly. "I apologize, I forget at times that I must learn to be more quiet when I speak. I suppose I am used to noise, and volume- Jane is helping me control my level of sound though... She is just so good, she helps me so much! And-" The two single men were not in the mood to hear about Thor's girlfriend. It just made their thoughts go to sad lonely places they didn't want to visit. So Banner tactfully interrupted Thor discussing the time Jane took him to the London Zoo.

"Steve, what did you want? How can I help you?" Thor sat back in his seat, slightly embarrassed, when the Captain started talking. "Can you go over what we know about Clint's position again? Any leads on where he could be, coordinates, possible organizations?" Bruce took a second to gather his thoughts, then dug an atlas out from his pile of papers and files in the seat next to him. "Ok, all I know about Clint's mission, is that he had to assassinate someone, near the city of Changzhou in China. All other details of that were classified." Banners eyes flitted towards Tony, who still had his helmet on. "And though if I needed to, I could obviously get my hands on that information, with some help, I didn't think it was crucial.  
Clint performed the assassination, we know this because I am told the body was found the last day Clint had contact with Shield. But we never heard from him." The atlas was opened to a map of China, and Bruce spent the next few minutes going over how he tracked Clint through several countries and continents. He explained that the tracker had been sending a fairly steady signal, and had been in the place they were headed for two days. But then, the signal died. If the tracker had not remained in one place for so long, it could have simply been removed at this position. But the maintained position, was evidence that they were located at some kind of headquarters or prison. At the least maybe a hospital type place, where the tracker may have been removed.

Steve frowned. "If you used the tracker to find Clint, why didn't Shield do the same thing? They are the ones who knew he had it. Shouldn't we have found him before now?" Bruce shook his head, "Well the signal was not consistent. I think it was being blocked, I only got random readings off it." Now the man took his glasses off, and met the eyes of Thor and Steve. "I should tell you guys this, something seems a bit fishy. The signal was blocked well, maybe fifty percent of the time. And just where I thought I was losing the trail, a new signal always came up to show me where Clint went. It was a little too easy, once I got the hang of it. It might be that Barton was doing this. Helping us out by somehow randomly unblocking his signal. But it seems more likely- That this is some kind of trap. That someone is waiting for us.

The three Avengers processed this thought, they knew they could likely avoid any trap, but it was still a troubling thought. Many people wanted the team dead. Criminals, underground organizations, heads of crime groups, terrorists, the list was quite lengthy. And just because they weren't aware of any group in the area Clint's tracker had last been monitored, didn't mean one wasn't there. Waiting for them.  
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It was a very long flight. Jet lag was making the entire team tired and irritable, Bruce yaw consumed by his work, Tony only took his helmet off to eat- apparently he had some movies downloaded to it. When Bruce suggested he project the films on the wall a everyone could watch, Tony suggested he shut up and get back to work. Thor dozed off for most of the flight, and Steve- well, sat in his chair. He hadn't grown a fondness for cell phones or many electronic devices, and when Banner offered Cap a spare tablet to entertain him, Steve just gave himself a headache. He had not brought any books or drawing supplies, so most of the flight was spent in pure boredom for him.

His thoughts drifted randomly. He kept reliving the mission that went wrong, that resulted in Natasha's injury. Could he have done anything differently? Maybe. He could have made sure Bucky was dead, been more attentive. He could have tried to protect her. Steve was still racked with guilt, but now with more than enough free time on his hands, he realized there was not a lot more that he could have done to help. It didn't make him feel much better though. Just a little less guilty.

Sporadically Steve's thoughts went from Natasha, to Agent Hill. Why, he didn't really know. She just popped into his head, and then he couldn't stop thinking of her. They'd had some nice moments the last few days, and be really couldn't explain why those moments had happened. Sitting in her office together, Maria having the couch put in the viewing room for him, and most of their interactions today. When she woke him up and held his hand for a second too long. He had seen her watching him draw. It had been a bit awkward at first, and he still didn't really know what to think of it.

Steve knew that he could never love anyone the way that he had loved Peggy. Their romance had been strange, and strong, and tragic and beautiful. But maybe, if he did meet the right person, he could love someone again. In a different way.

They were now about an hour from their final destination, when Tony suddenly stood up, and yelled out in alarm. "Guys! Guys! We have company!" The entire team was instantly alert, Thor called his hammer to his hand, pieces of armor started flying from around the plane, onto Tony's body. Steve had his shield in hand, Banner simply began gathering his important files and papers together into a backpack. If something was about to happen, he wanted to be prepared.

"Stark, what do you mean? Explain." Steve ordered tensely, Tony was walking towards the door to the cockpit. "Just did a scan of the area, we have two planes honing in on us. Looks like they're fitted with guns, possibly some other weapons I didn't get. They're headed this way, best to assume the worst." Tony turned to Bruce, "Banner, what's your call? You going to Hulk up, or stay as is?" For a few agonizing seconds they waited impatiently for his answer, he was still cramming things into his backpack. "Uh, um, we aren't sure that they are going to attack us. But if they fly by and the other guy attacks them, we'd definitely be in trouble. If it'll help I will see what I can do, but for now let's not jump to conclusions."

Tony rolled his eyes a bit, though Banner's logic did make sense. He entered the cockpit to tell the pilots what was up. Meanwhile Steve headed to a pile of different sized bags and backpacks. He grabbed six survival packs, jumping to the worst case scenario that they might have to leave the plane. He slung one onto his back, making sure to leave room for a parachute. He then just stared at the remaining bags, wondering how to do this. Tony couldn't fly with one of these on, if Banner became the Hulk, his bag would go flying. He supposed the two pilots could wear their own, if they fit over their parachutes. Maybe... "Thor!" Steve called the Demigod over, the plane took a steep banking turn, he hardly caught his balance. Thor came over, and after Steve explained, allowed the remaining bags to be slung on and attached to him. One was left, Steve put that one over his shoulder. The plane was dipping and swerving wildly, he reached for a parachute- and then everything exploded.

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WHOA CLIFF HANGER!  
Please review, and if anyone wants to PM me about anything, I love talking :D


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks for the story love! This was a hard chapter to write. I don't know why. I really hope you like it! Please review! And in case you forgot they were almost to the location Clint is at, and also in Alaska. So it is cold and snowy. Oh and the plane just exploded ;) :D  
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Everything exploded. One second Steve was standing on solid ground, then there was nothing but fire and flying metal, and falling. For seconds Steve had to adjust to the fall, thank goodness he had so much experience parachuting into places. Otherwise he probably wouldn't be able to think, or process what was happening at all. Once he got over the initial terror, Steve had the good sense to position his body in a spread eagle position- he had learned from experience that this could help slow his fall. Wind whipped in his ears, hunks of flying metal fell down around him.

The Captains eyes were streaming in the freezing wind, his ears popping from the altitude. It was hard to breathe, at this height the oxygen was thin and weak. Struggling, Steve opened his eyes and looked down at his surroundings. There was nothing but the color white. Every single thing he could see below him, was consumed by snow. He didn't see any of his team around him- shouldn't someone be saving him by now? What was happening? Was he about to die? Maybe he could land on a giant mountain of snow. Oh god, he was going to die if no one saved him soon.

The ground was swiftly zooming up to meet him, Steve was starting to panic. He couldn't even shout for help, or try and angle his body so his landing could be soft. Like that would help when he was falling from thousands of feet. Images flashed through his mind. Memories from his childhood, Peggy, the War. Fighting. New York. He was going to die, why was no one catching him? He was less than a thousand feet away from the ground below him now, he was going to die.

Suddenly, an invisible force slammed hard into Steve, he was now flying swiftly sideways through the air. Still in shock and thinking he was falling, he tried to grab onto whatever was holding him, but couldn't get a grip. Something strong, and unyielding and cold was wrapped around Steve's waist, and he was still falling quickly, but this was a controlled fall. Either this was some kind of miracle, or there was only one other explanation.

He couldn't even move his head, his limbs were locked in terror. But Steve managed to open his mouth, to yell out. "STARK! IS THAT YOU?" An irritated voice came from a few feet above Steve, "No, Rogers, this is God! Of course it's me! Who the hell else would it be? Who else would save your worthless butt when you are falling out of a plane? Let's just get you down already!"

They were almost to the ground now, Steve looked up, the reflective stealth mode of Tony's suit reflected his own face back to the super soldier. But looking around the reflective areas, he could see the bulk of the flaming plane was still falling. Three good sized jets were circling high above them, this far away Steve couldn't see any weapons on them. But he obviously knew they must be there. He couldn't see the other Avengers, or the two pilots either. He just hoped they were ok...

Without any warning, Steve was falling again. But this time he was roughly twenty five feet off the ground, a feasible drop for a super soldier. Steve fell through the tops of a few trees, bounced against some branches. Landed in a snowbank, and crouched on the ground still a bit stunned that he was alive. Starks voice came from above him, "Stay here! Maybe hide under something, until those planes go away. Just stay out of sight. I'll be back. I already dumped Banner- uh somewhere. Gotta go find him. GET him." Steve couldn't see Tony when he wore this new suit, that practically made him invisible. But he knew Iron Man was gone.

Steve hated hiding among the trees and bushes, he felt like a trapped rabbit. But he wasn't an idiot, he didn't want to be seen. So the Super Soldier found a solid clump of bushes nearby, cleared some branches away, and made a very unsecure, very temporary hiding place. He had no idea how long he would be waiting here, or who would be coming back. Steve realized he still had the emergency bag slung over his back, a lot of good that had been when he was falling out of an airplane. Expecting a lengthy wait, he decided to take an inventory of what the bag had.

But no sooner had he opened it, then something large and silver, and red and blonde landed heavily close by. Thor had one of the planes pilots over each arm, and, Steve noted, the rest of the survival bags still on his back. That was impressive. The two men who had been flying the plane looked duly traumatized, one of them took a few wobbly steps when Thor released him, then collapsed unconscious. The other's knees crumpled, and he dragged himself to rest under a tree, where he lay in a stunned daze. Thor glanced around the area, whispering in his shouting way. "Captain Steve! Where are you? It is safe to come out! Stark said that you would be here!"

Steve came out, cautiously looking up at the sky. Through the branches he only saw one of the enemy planes flying sporadically overhead. He wondered if it knew they were here in this spot. He wondered where the other two planes were. "Thor, you ok? Are these two ok?" The demigod walked forward, relief on his face. "I am fine, and I managed to save these two, before they suffered too many injuries. I am relieved to see you in good health though- when neither Tony or I could quickly grab you, I feared you were not long for this world. I do apologize for not saving you, but the circumstances were not favorable for that to happen.

Steve waved it off- "No, no, it's fine. It worked out, I'm sure you did your best. What did you say about these two being hurt?" Steve walked to the man who had fainted, asking Thor to help out the other. Ok, this pilot didn't look too bad. Obviously traumatized, a few cuts on his face, and a pretty nasty burn on the leg. The cloth of the mans pants leg had burnt away, the skin was a fierce shade of red. But he'd live. "That guy ok Thor?" Apparently used to injuries in the field, Thor had swiftly examined the pilot and found nothing too troubling. "A few surface wounds, a nasty cut above the eye, and a burn the size of a ravens egg on his neck. But this man shall be fine, with some simple care."

The Avengers dragged the pilots back underneath Steve's clump of bushes, clearing what snow they could off the ground, laying them side by side. Thor continued clearing away more snow, though the frozen earth beneath probably wasn't much warmer than the icy snow. Meanwhile Steve again went to see what exactly was in one of the survival bags.

In his one bag, he found quite a number of pleasant surprises- Clearly Shield had a very good understanding of what a fallen soldier in the field would need. A survival blanket, water purification tablets, an extensive first aid kit, a fire starter, a dozen dehydrated meals, a medium sized knife, and maybe best of all a gun with five packs of bullets. There was also a bulky yet high tech cellphone, but not sure of its signal could alert others to their presence, Steve ignored it for now. He opened the other bags, only to find they all held the same supplies. Not a bad haul though.

Fifteen minutes later Thor and Steve had fixed up the two pilots. Their burns and cuts were bandaged up, and both were now conscious. Thor was speaking with the still fairly traumatized pilots, and Steve was gathering up clean snow, hoping to somehow melt it without starting a fire. When suddenly, Banner came crashing through the bushes, an invisible Stark clearly holding him. Unless Bruce had somehow learned how to levitate. Both men dropped to the ground, and Tony turned off the stealth mode of his suit. Bruce was still clutching his backpack, and he stumbled to a patch of ground clear of snow, and sat down heavily. Tony meanwhile started talking rapidly, before anyone could ask any questions.

"Everyone here? All alive? Great. I wasn't able to ping the planes, otherwise they could have tracked the signal back to my location. They had some kind of logo on them, but I couldn't get a clear look at it. Even if I could've seen it, it might've been a fake. After the explosion I managed to grab Banner before he turned all Hulky on us. Lucky I did, or there is no way we wouldn't be seen by now. He has a bunch of information and files that are pretty much useless to us now. Anyone have something useful?"

Steve and Thor showed Tony the emergency packs, and that cheered him up slightly. It was definitely better than nothing. Soon Bruce had collected himself, and the two pilots (Named Joss and Stanley) were ok. Shaken, but ok. After they decided it would be foolish to go anywhere when it was getting dark, Stark used the hand beams on his suit to blast a good portion of snow away. Soon all the men where eating the disgusting freeze dried meals (dehydrated with melted snow), and those who needed them were wrapped in the survival blankets. So pretty much everyone but Thor and Steve.

Everyone was quiet as they ate what the label said was beef stew, but tasted more like puréed hotdogs with some random chewy bits thrown in. Their eyes were glued to the sky, watching for the planes to come back. Finally, Tony threw his half eaten pouch of food down in disgust. "Ok, that's it. If I eat one more bite of that garbage, it's all going to come back up. Are we just going to freeze to death here, or discuss a plan for tomorrow? Are we continuing the mission, calling reinforcements, giving up like a bunch of babies?" Steve was used to bad food in the army, but even he could hardly swallow the mushy "stew". He threw his own pouch by Tonys. "I don't know. I think we ARE the people called in when reinforcements are needed. If we need help, we are in pretty deep trouble. And I am not giving up. Natasha doesn't have time for this! As far as we know she could be DEAD by now!"

This angry statement made everyone fall silent again. No one said a word, or even looked at the others. It was Thor who finally spoke up. "We were not far from our destination when we were attacked, correct? With some hard walking tomorrow morning, we should get to Barton. Or at least the place we suspect he is located. I think we should rest tonight, and head towards our original landing point tomorrow." The Avengers team reluctantly agreed to this plan, when one of the pilots spoke up. "Um, do you mind if Stan and I wait here? We just fly the plane really... We don't have any fighting experience. Maybe we could start heading to the closest village tomorrow?" Tony rolled his eyes at this, but Steve assured the two they would not have to fight. They all discussed what directions they would have to head, and Stan gave Tony detailed directions. If they got lost, he could just fly up above them and put them back on track.

So the team went to sleep, with no idea what to expect tomorrow.  
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Sorry if you expected more action! Next chapter will either be Natasha and Maria back at base, or the team beginning the rescue of Clint. What do you want? And if anyone is wondering, the team did not attack the planes because that would have blown their cover. And Banner did not Hulk out because again cover would be blown, and also all the confidential Shield paperwork he had would be lost. And could fall into enemy hands. So yay Banner for staying human when falling from a plane!


End file.
